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New  Light  on  its  People, Customs, Business 
andTrade  Opportunities  for  U.  S.Manufacturers 

James  hLCollins 

Trade  Analyst  and  Explorer 


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BUSINESS  NEWS  SECTION 

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PHILADELPHIA 


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T EAVING  the  United  States  on  June  21,  1919,  Mr.  Collins  spent  months 
■*-!  at  his  task,  thoroughly  covering  the  trade  centers  of  Argentina, 
Brazil,  Chile,  Uruguay,  Paraguay  and  Peru.  In  touring  these  countries 
he  came  in  intimate  touch  with  statesmen,  bankers,  brokers  and 
importers,  manufacturers,  shippers,  warehousemen  and  steamship  and 
railroad  managers.  He  asked  searching  questions  and  elicited  frank 
answers.  He  made  particular  study  of  the  methods  by  which  Great 
Britain  and  Germany  built  up  their  exports.  Of  vital  concern  to  him 
was  a  critical  review  of  the  errors,  handicaps,  blunders  and  experiences 
that  have  been  pitfalls  for  the  American  exporter.  He  also  obtained  an 
intimate  light  on  the  social  life  and  customs  of  the  South  Americans. 

COMMENCING  with  the  issue  of  September  15,  1919,  letters  giving 
an  illuminating  and  exhaustive  review  of  Latin-American  condi- 
tions were  printed  in  the  Business  News  Section  of  the  Public  Ledger 
thrice  tveekly.  The  demand  from  all  sections,  including  South  America, 
for  copies  of  the  Public  Ledger  containing  the  Collins  articles  became  so 
great  that  it  ivas  decided  to  reprint  them  in  convenient  form.  The  arti- 
cles, therefore,  are  here  reprinted  and  descriptively  illustrated  with 
numerous  new,  interesting  and  instructive  photographs  obtained  by  Mr. 
Collins  on  the  spot. 

BUSINESS  NEWS  SECTION 

PUBLIC  ggy&b  LEDGER 

PHILADELPHIA 


Copyright   19?0  by  Public   Ledger   Co. 


CONTENTS 


Hd  It,? 


ARGENTINA 

Article  Subject 

/  Shipping  Delays  Hamper  Trade 

II  Manufacturers  Send  New  Type  of  Representative 

III  U.  S.  Business  Agents  Soon  Feel  at  Home 

IV  Buenos  Aires  Big  Field  for  U.  S.  Men's  Clothing 
V  Leading  Newspaper  Uses  Yankee  Methods  - 

VI  High  Cost  of  Living  Hits  Buenos  Aires 

VII  U.  S.  Packers  Urge  Modern  Methods 

VIII  American  Automobiles  Supplanting  British    - 

IX  Consult  Wife,  Then  Send  Man  to  Latin  America 

X  South  America  Gets  U.  S.  Capital  via  Europe 

XI  American  Trade  Menaced  by  German  Competition 

XII  Propaganda  Against  U.  S.  Goods  Is  Mere  Gossip 

XIII  Philadelphia  Firm  Gets  Early  Start 

XIV  Argentina  Has  Many  National  Heroes 
XV  What  Can  Americans  Do  to  Aid  Argentina? 

XVI  Customs  Regulations  Replete  With  Delays 

XVII  Old  Customs  Rule  in  Buenos  Aires  Stores 

LII  Latin  America  Shivers  With  Fuel  Undeveloped 

LI  1 1  Buenos  Aires  Has  Need  for  U.  S.  Type  of  Buildings 

LIV  Lack  of  Vision  Retards  U.  S.-Latin  American  Trade 

LV  Advertising  of  Yankees  Appeals  to  the  Argentino 

LVI  Antiquated  Retail  Style  Invites  Yankee  Invasion 

LVII  Argentine  Methods  Differ  From  Ours  in  Many  Respects 

LVI  II  Self -Advertisement  Here  Would  Benefit  Argentina 

LIX  Commerce  Chamber  Big  Aid  to  Trade  in  Argentina 

LX  Big  U.  S.  Bank  Will  Get  You  a  Haircut  in  Argentina 


Page 

/ 

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7 

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11 

12 

14 

16 

17 

20 

21 

23 

25 

27 

28 


33 

34 

9« 
oo 

38 

39 

41 

43 

45 


BRAZIL 

XV III  Check  Plan  Not  in  Vogue  Except  in  Movies    • 

XIX  Attorneys  Eager  for  U.  S.  Law  Books       ... 

XX  Language  of  Brazil  is  Portuguese         ... 

XXI  U.  S.  Credentials  Needed  in  Trading  ... 

XXII  No  Anti-U.  S.  Feeling  Among  Best  Citizens 

XXIII  U.  S.  Needs  Good  Shipping  Agents  at  Foreign  Ports 

XXIV  Conformity  to  Brazil's  Tariff  a  Trade  Necessity 
XXV  Bad  Packing  May  Cost  U.  S.  Big  Trade  Gain 

XXVI  Law  and  Family  Large  Factors  in  Business    • 

XXVII  Modern  Railroads  Needed  to  Develop  Brazil's  Resources 

XXVIII  Bond  Investments  Will  Aid  Trade  With  Latin  America 

XXIX  Brazil  One  End  of  Blind  Alley  for  U.  S.  Ship  Lines 

XXX  U.  S.  Salesmen,  Shy  on  Detail,  Fail  in  South  America 

XXXI  "Coal"  Is  Keyword  to  Latin-American  Trade 

XXXII  American  Bank  Methods  Win  Firm  Hold  in  Brazil 

XXXIII  Sao  Paulo  Is  Brazil's  Bee  Hive  of  Industry 

XXXIV  Tennessee  Woman  Showed  How  to  Win  Out  in  Brazil 
XXXV  Some  Straight  Business  Tips  Bearing  on  Brazil    - 

XXXVI  American  Methods  Make  "Ads"  Pull  in  Brazil 

XXXVII  Europe  Loses  Aircraft  Field  to  U.  S.  Machines    - 

(Continued  on  Next  Page) 


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62 
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71 
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74 
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r 


Article 

Subject 

Page 

XXXVIII 

Brazil's  30-Year  Steel  Need  Is  $3 £00, 000, 000    - 

79 

XXXIX 

Four  Free  Trading  Ports  Contemplated  by  Brazil 

81 

XL 

Brazil's  Great  Forest  Wealth  a  Handicap 

83 

XLI 

Tax  Greed  Strangled  Brazil  Manganese  Trade 

84 

XLII 

Pensions  and  Payrolls  Use  80  P.  C.  of  Revenue 

85 

XL1II 

Thefts  From  Shipments  to  Brazil  Are  Common    - 

88 

XLIV 

Hampering  World  Trade  Through  the  Income  Tax 

89 

XLV 

Groping  for  Business  Is  Error  of  Exporters 

91 

XLVI 

Brazil  an  Aladdin's  Lamp  Giving  Wealth  for  a  Rub 

92 

XLV  11 

Sao  Paulo  Is  Becoming  a  Chicago  Counterpart    - 

94 

XLV  III 

Speculative  Kick  Being  Taken  From  Coffee  Crop 

96 

XL1X 

Brazil  Keen  for  Honest  News  from  U.  S.    - 

98 

L 

Brazilians  Have  Horror  of  Physical  Violence 

99 

LI 

New  Cable  Will  Help  U.  S. -Latin- American  Trade 

URUGUAY  and  PARAGUAY 

101 

LXI 

Uruguay  Is  the  Biggest  Little  Republic  in  South 

■      103 

LXII 

Individualism  Features  Trading  by  Uruguayans 

105 

LXIII 

Make  Refrigerator  Cars  Swim  to  Latin  America 

•      106 

LXIV 

Uruguay  Is  Financially  Strongest  of  Group 

109 

LXV 

Uruguayans  Were  Quick  to  Grasp  Rotary  Spirit 

-      110 

LXVI 

Canned  Corned  Beef  a  Neglected  War  Baby 

112 

LXVII 

Uruguay's  Big  Men  Rank  Among  Biggest 

CHILE 

-      113 

LXVIII 

Fourth  Capital  City  Has  No  U.  S.  Consul 

-      115 

LXIX 

Chile  Needs  Yankees    ----- 

117 

LXX 

Panama  Canal  Opens  Way  to  Chile  Trade 

-      119 

LXXI 

Continental  System  of  Rails  Is  Planned     - 

120 

LXXII 

Banks  Are  on  Wrong  Foreign  Trade  Track     - 

-      121 

LXXI1I 

American  Shippers  Aid  Clever  Freight  Thieves    - 

123 

LXXIV 

Chile  Has  Her  Dentistry  Markets  Cornered     - 

-      125 

LXXV 

Motorbus  Is  Popular  in  Capital  of  Chile    - 

126 

LXX  VI 

Inquietude  of  the  Peso  a  Handicap  to  Chile    - 

-      128 

LXXVII 

Some  Peculiarities  and  Needs  of  Chile 

129 

LXXVIII 

Valparaiso,  Important  City,  Three  Streets  Wide 

-      131 

LXXIX 

Nitrate  Trade  Awaits  Yankees  or  British 

132 

LXXX 

Mail  Service  of  the  U.  S.  an  Obstacle  to  Trade 

-      134 

LXXXI 

Liberators  of  Chile  From  Far-Off  Nations 

135 

LXXXII 

Chile  Is  Bombarding  Walls  of  Ignorance 

PERU 

-      137 

LXXXIII 

Amusement  Park  Will  Make  Good  in  Peru 

-      139 

LXXXIV 

Peru  Jail  Has  Special  Space  for  Ex-Presidents     - 

140 

LXXXV 

Direct  Buying  Saved  Five  Profits  for  Mill 

-      742 

LXXXVI 

Exchange  Gambling  Arm  of  Business  in  Peru 

144 

LXXXVII 

Peru  Has  an  Exhibit  of  Export  Crookedness 

-      145 

LXXXVIII 

Tractor  Destined  to  Increase  Peru's  Wealth 

147 

LXXXIX 

Teaching  With  Selling  Latin  America's  Need 

■      150 

Lt    .,1   «L_  __-*4rfl  • '' 

Argentina 


ARTICLE  I 

SHIPPING  DELAYS 
HAMPER  TRADE 

JN  THE  Roadstead,  Rio  Plata,  off 
Buenos  Aires,  Aug.  15,  1919. — They 
say  the  present  earning  capacity  of  the 
British  steamship  Vauban  is  about  $7000 
a  day.  Her  crew  of  300  cost  at  least 
$1000  daily,  and  with  350  passengers, 
for  whom  a  food  allowance  of  six  shil- 
lings is  made,  that  item  amounts  to  at 
least  half  the  wages  of  the  crew.  Hold 
the  Vauban  up  for  an  hour  and  it  means 
a  loss  of  perhaps  $100  costs,  or  $300 
earning  capacity,  at  a  reasonable  esti- 
mate. 

It  must  have  cost  the  Vauban  from 
$500  to  $1500  to  load  passengers'  trunks 
when  the  writer  sailed  on  her  for  Buenos 
Aires  June  21,  and  the  process  was 
worth  watching  in  connection  with  the 
new  trade  which  he  hopes  to  hold  and 
increase  in  Latin  America.  The  ship 
docked  in  Brooklyn.     The  dock  belongs 


to  New  York  city.  It  is  nothing  more 
than  a  sheetiron  shelter  without  a  single 
mechanical  appliance  of  any  kind  for 
handling  baggage  or  cargo.  The  passen- 
gers' trunks  were  picked  up  in  half  doz- 
ens and  swung  into  the  air  by  the  ship's 
own  cranes  and  scrambled  into  her  hold. 
It  took  several  days  of  sorting  at  sea 
before  baggage  was  found  by  owners. 

"They  always  do  it  that  way,  sir,"  ex- 
plained the  steward.  "They  'urry  the 
luggage  into  the  'old  and  we  must  find 
it."  Climbing  over  trunks-  in  the  hold 
of  a  ship  looking  for  one's  own  baggage 
was  the  chief  sport  for  several  days  and 
better  exercise  than  shuffleboard  or  deck 
quoits.  An  automatic  conveyor  on  the 
pier  at  Brooklyn,  with  proper  sorting  of 
baggage,  should  have  loaded  everything 
in  an  hour. 


This  was  only  the  beginning  of  the  log 
of  the  Vauban — a  log  rich  with  possibili- 
ties for  making  money  through  elimina- 
tion of  waste  and  delay.  Coming  from 
Liverpool  early  in  June  with  a  load  of 
passengers,  she  had  been  scheduled  to 
sail  for  Buenos  Aires  June  14.  Slow 
methods  of  cargo  loading  delayed  her 
until  June  21,  a  little  item  of  $50,000 
lost  in  earning  capacity. 

We  started  for  Barbados,  the  first 
scheduled  stop,  and  six  days  later  docked 
instead  at  Castries,  St.  Lucia,  one  of  the 
small  British  West  Indian  islands,  where 
coal  and  water  were  to  be  taken.  And 
here  two  more  interesting  factors  in  the 
world  trade  were  disclosed. 

THE  "CAMBIO" 

Ij^IRST,  the  "cambio,"  which  is  Spanish 
for  money  exchange.  Five  different 
kinds  of  money  are  necessary  on  a  voy- 
age from  New  York  to  Buenos  Aires — 
United  States,  British,  Brazilian,  Uru- 
guayan and  Argentinian.  Every  time 
an  exchange  is  made  one  must  pay  from 
2  to  10  per  cent,  and  running  a  cambio 


ARGENTINA 


MODERN*  GRAIN  ELEVATORS  AND  PIERS  AT  BUENOS  AIRES 


in  Latin-American  cities  is  a  popular  and 
lucrative  business.  St.  Lucia  introduced 
the  cambio  in  novel  form.  It  came  out 
swimming  when  the  steamship  entered 
the  harbor — several  dozen  negro  divers 
who  coaxed  for  coins  and  shot  after  them 
the  moment  they  touched  the  water. 
Two  hours  later  these  same  negroes  held 
out  a  handful  of  American  nickels  and 
dimes  to  passengers  sightseeing  in  Cas- 
tries, asking  for  American  paper  money. 
Castries  uses  British  currency.  Ameri- 
can paper  passes  at  par,  but  not  coins. 
As  the  local  money  lenders  will  pay 
only  ten  to  fifteen  cents  for  an  American 
quarter,  the  alert  negro  divers,  after 
gathering  anywhere  from  $2  to  $25 
small  change  in  the  water,  hurry  ashore 
and  ask  passengers  to  turn  into  American 
bills  the  coins  they  have  idly  tossed  over 
the  side.  Life  is  rather  hard  for  a  negro 
on  a  small  West  Indian  island,  but  it 
develops  his  wits.  He  thoroughly  works 
the  occasional  passenger  ship  touching 
there  and  dreams  of  the  day  when  he 
can  stow  himself  in  the  bunkers  for  New 
York,  to  become  an  elevator  boy. 

The  other  interesting  thing  at  Castries 
was  coaling  the  ship  with  baskets  of  fuel 
weighing  upward  of  100  pounds,  carried 
on  the  heads  of  negro  women.  This  is 
considered  a  quick,  cheap  method  of  coal- 
ing if  you  happen  to  have  West  Indian 
negroes  or  Oriental  coolies  willing  to  do 
the  work  at  a  cent  a  basket.  But  it  is 
not  a  pleasant  sight  to  Americans  accus- 
tomed to  seeing  such  things  done  by 
power,  and  it  turned  the  writer's 
thought  to  our  new  fabricated  ships 
with  their  crude-oil  fuel,  which  is  not 
adapted  to  the  human  head. 

One  poor  little  negro  "Lizzie"  fell 
into  the  coal  bunkers  in  some  way  during 
the  night.  There  was  a  rumor  about 
her  when  the  ship  pulled  out  next  morn- 
ing,   discredited    at   first,    but   only   too 


plainly  confirmed  a  day  later  in  the  hot 
tropical  swelter.  Her  body  was  not 
found  until  nearly  three  weeks  later, 
when  she  was  buried  at  sea,  near  the  end 
of  the  voyage. 

THE  MONEY  COST  OF  DELAYS 

HPEN  hours  of  steaming,  a  quick  trans- 
fer of  mails  at  Barbados  and  eleven 
more  days  on  top  of  that  brought  the 
ship  to  Rio  de  Janeiro.  By  contrast  this 
was  a  modern  port,  with  electric  cranes 
along  the  docks  which  picked  up  cargoes 
and  loaded  directly  into  railroad  cars. 
But  the  Vauban  spent  a  couple  of  thou- 
sand dollars  in  earning  capacity  waiting 
at  quarantine  and  carrying  out  other 
docking  formalities,  which,  unquestion- 
ably, could  be  accelerated.  At  Monte- 
video, four  days  later,  there  was  the  same 
delay,  and  still  a  longer  one  at  Buenos 
Aires  two  days  later.  Although  the  ship 
lay  at  quarantine  before  daylight,  it  was 
twelve  hours  later  before  she  finally 
touched  the  docks.  Two  hours  of  this 
was  necessary  for  steaming  up  the  river, 
but  the  rest  was  sheer  loafing  at  $300 
an  hour  while  simple  port  facilities  were 
gone  through  with.  First  came  the  doc- 
tors, to  line  up  passengers  and  super- 
ficially feel  pulses ;  then  immigration  offi- 
cials, to  scrawl  initials  on  passports,  and 
so  on. 

Living  in  Buenos  Aires  is  very  expen- 
sive, and  no  article  of  imported  mer- 
chandise costs  less  than  twice  the  New 
York  retail  price.  To  ascertain  how 
much  of  the  cost  of  a  Bond  street  hat  or 


Schenectady  electric  iron  is,  due  to  the 
leisurely  handling  of  ships  by  port  offi- 
cials, should  be  a  very  interesting  study 
for  the  Buenos  Aires  consumer — the  pos- 
sibilities of  making  money  through 
economies  might  dwarf  the  profits  from 
the  greater  Argentine  expectancies. 

The  whole  voyage  consumed  exactly 
twenty-six  days,  and  as  the  Vauban  is 
one  of  the  fastest  mail-carrying  ships 
between  New  York  and  Buenos  Aires, 
that  is  the  time  of  the  United  States 
mail  between  the  two  cities.  The  Vau- 
ban is  scheduled  to  sail  again  for 
New  York  twelve  days  later,  and  with 
the  Trans-Andean  Railroad  closed  by 
snow,  cutting  off  mail  routes  up  the 
west  coast  of  South  America,  a  passen- 
ger of  this  ship,  writing  home  when  he 
arrived  in  Buenos  Aires,  probably  would 
not  be  heard  from  in  the  United  States 
until  the  beginning  of  September.  In 
contrast  with  this,  mails  between  Argen- 
tina and  Europe  go  every  few  days  by 
British,  French,  Italian  and  Dutch 
steamships.  All  United  States  mail  to 
the  east  coast  of  South  America  is  car- 
ried by  comparatively  slow  foreign  ships, 
excepting  only  two  American  liners  on 
the  west  coast  that  take  mail  shipped 
over  the  Andes  to  Chile.  These  are 
wartime  conditions,  to  be  sure,  but  dur- 
ing years  of  peace  the  American  business 
man  attempting  trade  with  Argentina 
and  Brazil  was  handicapped  by  delays 
almost  as  grievous  in  transportation  and 
communication. 

NEW  BOATS  FOR  SOUTH  AMERICA 

VTEW  British  steamships  are  being 
built  for  this  trade — faster  boats 
between  New  York,  Brazil  and  Argen- 
tina to  accommodate  the  passenger  travel 
that  has  developed  almost  magically 
with  the  war.  These  vessels  may  not 
be  ready  for  months,  but  eventually  they 


ARGENTINA 


will  carry  people  and  mails  faster — and 
it  is  to  be  hoped  with  certain  refinements 
of  service.  Perhaps  a  few  plain  sugges- 
tions to  the  British  managers  may  be 
helpful  in  making  their  plans. 

First.  Cooking.  The  British  were 
never  cooks  before  the  war,  and  five 
years  of  contact  with  the  French  did 
n<?t  teach  them  how  to  broil  a  steak  or 
Ifoil  potatoes.  Inferior  cooking  on  Brit- 
ish steamships  running  to  Europe  as  well 
as  America  was  a  serious  handicap  before 
the  war  in  competition  with  the  French, 
Dutch,  Italian,  German  and  even  the 
Spanish  liners,  which  carried  a  veritable 
farmyard  of  animals  to  be  slaughtered 
for  the  table,  instead  of  frozen  meats. 
The  British  have  abundant  and  cheap 
food  supplies  in  Argentina  and  make  lib- 
eral provisions  for  passengers.  If  they 
will  hire  some  cooks,  it  will  help  a  lot 
in  holding  their  future  passenger  traffic. 

Laundry  becomes  a  cardinal  item  dur- 
ing the  three  weeks'  voyage  at  sea,  with 
the  tropics  to  melt  shirts  and  collars. 
This  ship  had  a  laundry,  to  be  sure,  but 
nobody  patronized  it  twice,  because  your 
shirt  was  washed  in  water  that  must 
have  been  something  like  the  soup  served 
in  the  salon,  then  simply  rough-dried 
without  starch,  folded  in  the  semblance 
of  a  laundered  shirt  and  a  flatiron  super- 
ficially brought  across  the  bosom  to  carry 
out  the  illusion.  At  twenty-five  cents 
per  shirt  such  laundry  work  was  frankly 
petty  larceny,  and  it  might  as  well  be 
said  bluntly. 

Then  baggage  should  be  handled  on 
something  approximating  the  American 
checking  system.  There  are  decided  ad- 
vantages in  the  British  system  of  follow- 
ing one's  own  luggage  into  railroad  cars 
and  out  at  the  end  of  a  journey  when 
one  is  in  England 
itself,  but  the  sys-  ^HH 

tern  does  not  work  •-< 
out  happily  with 
the  baggage  of  an 
overcrowded  steam- 
ship; at  least  it  did 
not  on  this  voyage. 

'AWKINS  FROM 
FRANCE 

£VERY  Pullman 
berth  nowa- 
days has  its  electric 
light — a  great  con- 
venience to  travel- 
ers. Why  not  read- 
ing lights  in  steam- 
ship berths?  The 
Pullman  cars  have 
hot  and  cold  water 
"laid  on."  Why 
not  running  hot 
and  cold  water  in 
steamship  state- 
rooms instead  of  the 
British  bowl-and- 
pitcher  system,  that 


or  elsewhere,  and  by  enlisting  the  in- 
telligent co-operation  of  Latin-American 
port  authorities,  so  that  expensive  loafing 
about  in  their  harbors  mav  be  eliminated. 


necessitates  so  much  running  about  of 
stewards?  The  Vauban's  stewards  were 
wretchedly  overworked.  Their  hours 
ran  from  5  in  the  morning  until  mid- 
night, apparently.  It  gave  one  a  distinct 
shock  to  learn  that  the  docile  'Awkins 
who  answered  your  bell  was  a  veteran 
from  France,  with  maybe  a  wound  or 
two,  or  had  been  torpedoed  several  times. 
Leaning  over  the  rail  during  a  free  mo- 
ment he  might  tell  of  a  twenty-hour  trip 
in  a  lifeboat  through  the  wintry  north 
Atlantic,  and  a  hazardous  landing  on  the 
rocky  coast  of  Ireland. 

"I'm  a  'umble  man,  sir,  an'  my  'ouse 
has  only  four  rooms,"  he  would  con- 
clude, "but  if  I  could  have  put  that  life- 
boat in  my  parlor,  sir,  I'd  'ave  wrapped 
it  in  silk  from  end  to  end." 

And  'Awkins  has  not  lost  the  jolly 
British  habit  of  "grousing."  He  will 
also  tell  you  of  the  British  steamship 
employes'  movement  for  an  eight-hour 
day  on  shipboard,  with  overtime  for 
extra  work. 

On  the  whole,  the  log  of  the  Vauban 
on  this  trip  seems  to  point  plainly  to 
many  opportunities  for  improvement 
and  economy  in  steamship  service.  It  is 
up  to  the  British,  and  also  ourselves,  to 
shorten  the  distance  between  North  and 
South  American'  ports  by  putting  on 
faster  ships,  and  more  ships,  so  that*  a 
port  like  Buenos  Aires  may  be  reached 
directly  without  freight  handling  at  Rio 


ARGENTINA     CAPITAL,    BUILDING 


ARTICLE  II 

MANUFACTURERS  SEND  NEW 
TYPE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 

TN  THE  Roadstead,  Rio  Plata,  Argen- 
tina, Aug.  17. — "Chicago"  had  a 
habit  of  making  detached  remarks.  "I'll 
bet  there  are  100,000  people  at  Man- 
hattan Beach  in  Chicago  this  morning," 
he  would  say,  leaning  over  the  rail  be- 
fore breakfast,  and  again,  piously,  "How 
would  you  like  to  be  in  La  Salle  street 
this  morning?" 

Probably  you  have  heard  that  the 
American  doing  business  in  South 
America  must  speak  Spanish  or  Portu- 
guese and  be  extremely  courteous.  That 
is  a  very  good  theory — but  here  are  the 
facts : 

"Chicago"  was  a  product  of  Packing- 
Town,  a  factory-production  man  more 
accustomed  to  watching  figures  of  daily 
output  than  to  taking  his  hat  off  to  men 
in  the  Latin-American  fashion.  And  he 
spoke  only  his  native  language — Ameri- 
can. Nevertheless,  he  was  a  true  gentle- 
man in  his  direct  honesty  and  simplicity 
and  human  kindliness. 

The  British  steamship  Vauban  was 
crowded  from  New  York  to  Rio  and, 
therefore,  "Chicago"  shared  a  small 
stateroom  with  "Buenos  Aires."  The 
latter  was  as  typical  of  his  continent  and 
city  as  his  roommate.  "Buenos  Aires" 
spoke  Spanish  and  French,  but  not  a 
word  of  English.  He  was  a  wealthy 
landowner,  a  member  of  the  Jockey 
Club,  a  cosmopolite  as  much  at  home  in 
Paris  as  Buenos 
Aires.  And  they 
understood  one  an- 
other from  the  first, 
each  talking  h  i  s 
own  language. 
"Chicago"  never 
had  seen  a  man  be- 
fore who  possessed 
so  many  suits  of 
clothes  and  pairs  of 
shoes.  "Buenos 
Aires"  is  famous  in 
his  home  town  as  a 
wit  and  mimic.  He 
had  his  home-town 
habit  of  coming  in 
around  2  a.  m. 
This  led  "Chicago" 
to  think  that  "Bue- 
n  o  s  Aires"  might 
need  assistance 
climbing  into  his 
upper  berth,  and 
when  "Buenos 
Aires"  sensed  that 
he  played  the  part 
realistically,  fum- 
bling  with    h  i  s 


ARGENTINA 


clothes,  dropping  money  on  the  floor  and 
talking  thickly.  "Chicago"  put  "Buenos 
Aires"  to  bed  so  tactfully  and  kindly  that 
the  latter  told  him  next  day  through  an 
interpreter,  "If  there  is  anything  in  Ar- 
gentina you  want,  just  let  me  know  and 
I  will  get  it  for  you." 

A  good  many  find  understandings  be- 
tween South  America  and  North  Amer- 
ica are  as  simple  as  that  when  reduced 
to  actual  contacts  between  individuals. 
You  may  master  Spanish  or  Portuguese 
and  the  countless  fine  points  of  Latin 
etiquette.  Yet  what  you  really  are 
counts  for  far  more  than  how  you  talk 
or  act,  and  no  one  is  quicker  to  see  that 
than  Latin  America. 

The  Vauban  carried  a  record-break- 
ing passenger  list.  Reservations  had 
been  made  months  before,  and  her  sec- 
ond-class cabins 
were  filled  with 
passengers  who  ate 
in  the  first-class 
salon  in  two  shifts. 
And  the  passenger 
list  was  representa- 
tive of  the  new 
business  relations 
that  are  being  built 
up  between  South 
and  North  Amer- 
ica. 

Chicago  had  sent 
a  large  delegation 
of  packers  —  men 
from  every  branch 
of  the  industry  go- 
ing to  the  southern 
continent  with 
their  wives  to  live 
for  long  periods. 
Brazil  never  ex- 
ported a  pound  of 
meat  until  the  Eu- 
ropean war  began, 
but  now  she  is  ship- 
ping 75,000  tons 
annually  and  erect- 
ing packing  plants 

and   developing      m,..  «.    It  i T 

from  her  Hindu- 
humped  cattle  bet- 
ter beef  animals  that  will  resist  tropical 
pests  and  diseases.  So  for  Brazil  there 
were  experts  in  both  the  breeding  and 
packing  of  beef.  Beef  canning  in  Ar- 
gentina, Uruguay  and  Paraguay  had 
lately  shown  marked  falling  off  in  qual- 
ity. So  there  were  experts  capable  of 
taking  the  kinks  out  of  a  "line"  of  can- 
ning machinery.  One  of  them  was  an 
American  hurriedly  brought  from  Aus- 
tralia. Brazil's  immediate  future  lies 
even  more  in  pork  than  beef,  because 
hogs  can  be  grown  more  quickly  and  are 
more  adapted  to  the  climate.  Likewise, 
while  Argentina  and  her  neighbors  have 
been  growing  cattle,  sheep  and  grain, 
hogs  have  been  neglected  and  pork  is 
almost  a  luxury.  So  the  Chicago  dele- 
gation   comprised    various   hog    experts, 


with  scientific  men  from  Washington, 
•and  coming  along  behind  them  in  freight 
steamships  were  droves  of  aristocratic 
American  swine  to  establish  the  industry 
on  the  southern  continent  and  to  estab- 
lish it  right. 

THE  BOND  OF  THE  CONTINENTS 

XI/HEN  the  passengers  came  aboard  at 
New  York  it  was  possible  to  class- 
ify them  in  two  distinct  groups — those 
obviously  North  Americans  and  those 
obviously  Latin.  But  in  a  week  the  dis- 
tinction blurred  and  the  groups  blended, 
for  some  of  the  Latins  proved  to  be 
Americans  who  had  lived  long  in  Brazil 
or  Argentina — it  was  their  clothes  and 
complexions  and  manners  that  made 
them  look  southern.  Some  of  the  Lat- 
ins also  proved  to  be  Porto  Ricans  and 


PORT  VIEW  OF  BUENOS   AIRES 

Cubans  with  American  business  training. 
On  top  of  that  there  were  Spaniards 
with  American  business  experience  and 
Americans  who  had  never  been  abroad, 
but  were  now  going  to  the  southern  con- 
tinent after  careful  training  in  the  lan- 
guage. So  the  ship's  company  as  it  stood 
was  a  definite  bond  between  the  two  con- 
tinents in  language  and  nationality,  and 
as  one  got  better  acquainted  with  indi- 
viduals it  was  seen  that  this  bond  also 
extended   to   business   matters. 

Argentina  has  no  iron  ore  or  coal  for 
steel-making  purposes — at  least  no  re- 
sources discovered  or  developed.  Yet 
there  was  a  group  of  steelmakers  aboard. 
They  were  going  from  Canada  to 
Buenos  Aires  to  make  steel.  One  expert 
had  the  job  of  installing  furnace  equip- 


ment, which  the  others  were  to  operate 
on  contract  extending  over  several  years. 
How  could  they  make  steel  without 
iron  ?  Their  raw  material  will  be  scrap 
iron,  the  export  of  which  from  Argentina 
is  prohibited.  How  can  they  make 
it  without  fuel?  American  and  British 
coal  is  to  be  used,  and,  though  the  cost 
per  ton  is  high  compared  with  our  stand- 
ards, the  price  of  steel  in  Argentina, 
almost  a  precious  metal,  gives  a  fine 
profit  on  a  necessarily  restricted  produc- 
tion. Out  of  Argentina  scrap  iron  they 
will  soon  be  making  angles  and  bars  and 
shapes. 

Steel  from  the  United  States  was  rep- 
resented by  a  dozen  executives,  engineers 
and  salesmen,  bound  to  various  parts  of 
the  A.  B.  C.  countries  to  begin  the  re- 
habilitation of  railroads  and  public  utili- 
t  i  e  s,  resume  con- 
struction on  dozens 
of  buildings  upon 
which  work  stopped 
shortly  after  the 
war  began  and 
whose  gaunt  skele- 
tons are  seen  in 
every  port. 

INDUSTRIES 
IN  EMBRYO 

COUTH  AMER- 
ICA produces 
hides  and  vegetable 
tanning  materials, 
like  quebracho, 
divi-divi  and  man- 
groveextract.  Que- 
bracho is  a  wood  so 
heavy  and  hard 
that  it  sinks  in 
water,  and  its  name 
is  Portuguese  for 
"ax-breaker."  It  is 
so  full  of  tannin 
that  quebracho  rail- 
road ties  last  for 
years.  Raw  hides 
and  tanning  mate- 
rials are  freighted 
all  the  way  from 
South  America  to 
North  America,  turned  into  leather  and 
the  latter  shipped  to  Europe.  Why  not 
make  the  leather  itself  in  South  Amer- 
ica? There  was  a  leather  man  aboard, 
who  said  that  Argentina  had  been 
making  leather  in  modest  quantities  for 
some  years  by  methods  which  were  slow 
and  costly  compared  with  American 
standards.  His  job  was  to  begin  leather 
production  on  American  lines. 

England,  France  and  Italy  had  been 
active  in  sending  aviators  and  aircraft 
missions  to  South  America  since  the  ar- 
mistice, backed  by  all  the  advantages  of 
government  support,  official  and  finan- 
cial. Up  on  the  boat  deck  next  to  the 
wireless  room  a  lone  American  aviator 
was    tucked    away,    bound    for    Buenos 


ARGENTINA 


Aires  to  represent 
single-handed  our 
largest  American 
aircraft  corpora- 
tion, without  gov- 
ernment backing  or 
financial  advan- 
tages of  any  kind. 
It  looked  like  an- 
other tilt  of  the 
soliury  ace  against 
the  flying  circus! 
It  is  estimated 
that  since  the  war 
between  fifty  and 
seventy-five  Amer- 
ican manufactur- 
ing concerns  have 
established 
branches  in  South 
America,  where 
they  carry  full 
stocks  of  goods,  %r*? 
quickly  accessible 
to    customers.  -    A 

score  or  more  of  the  passengers  were 
traveling  to  these  branch  houses,  some, 
men  with  experience  in  the  southern  con- 
tinent, going  back  after  conferences  at 
home  to  extend  trade  and  others  crossing 
the  equator  for  the  first  time  to  enlarge 
branch  organizations. 

AMERICAN  BRANCH  BANKS 

A  MERICAN  branch  banks  in  South 
America  are  growing  so  fast  that 
every  ship  carries  men  to  increase  their 
staffs. 

American  shipping  now  looms  up  as 
an  actuality,  with  definite  plans  for  put- 
ting both  passenger  and  cargo  boats  on 
our  South  American  routes.  The  new 
American  merchant  marine  was  repre- 
sented by  men  connected  with  new  ship- 
ping lines  going  to  various  parts  of  the 
southern  continent  to  investigate  port 
facilities  and  traffic  possibilities,  as  well 
as  men  with  plans  for  serving  American 
ships  in  the  various  ports. 

Coal  was  represented  by  one  operator, 
who  sells  it  to  Latin  America  by  the 
shipload.  Buenos  Aires  and  Rio  are  live 
show  towns,  and  there  were  American 
theatrical  people  aboard. 

One  decidedly  interesting  group, 
though  not  North  Americans  in  birth  or 
business  connection,  was  still  significant 
in  future  relations  between  the  two  con- 
tinents. It  was  made  up  of  young  Latin 
Americans  returning  from  our  engineer- 
ing and  commercial  schools,  wearing 
American  fraternity  emblems,  speaking 
the  American  language  as  we  speak  it 
ourselves,  each  with  an  amusing  bias  to- 
ward his  alma  mater  or  some  individual 
city  where  he  had  lived. 

The  wiseacre  in  Latin-American  busi- 


B 


BUENOS    AIRES    RAILROAD     STATION 

ness   is  always   drawing   the   newcomer 
aside  to  whisper  things  in  his  ear. 

"You're  green  down  here,"  he  says, 
"and  I've  been  in  the  country  five  years. 
Let  me  tell  you  something  about  these 
people,"  etc.,  etc. 


GREEN  CONCERNING  LANGUAGE 

A  LMOST  invariably  he  will  complain 
of  the  kind  of  Americans  who  have 
been  sent  South  on  business  missions,  ex- 
plaining that  they  are  mostly  "bound- 
ers," not  familiar  with  Spanish,  not  in 
sympathy  with  the  Latin  people  or  versed 
in  their  business  ways.  Our  former  car- 
goes of  American  people  may  have  been 
like  that,  but  certainly  the  Vauban's  pas- 
senger list  was  not.  At  a  rough  esti- 
mate half  the  men  going  on  business  mis- 
sions had  been  in  the  southern  continent 
before  or  had  experience  in  the  West  In- 
dies or  were  of  Spanish  or  Latin-Ameri- 
can birth.  Fully  nine  in  ten  spoke  Span- 
ish or  Portuguese.  The  large  group  of 
factory  men  was  green  in  the  matter  of 
language  and  previous  experience  in 
South  America,  but  they  were  not  green 
in  processes  or  products,  and  while  they 
would  have  to  work  through  interpreters 
until  some  knowledge  of  the  language 
had  been  picked  up,  were  already  investi- 
gating Latin-American  industrial  and 
labor  conditions,  comparing  them  with 
our  own  and  planning  to  boost  output  by 
boosting  earning  capacity  on  familiar 
American  lines. 


ARTICLE   III 

U.S.  BUSINESS 
AGENTS 
SOON  FEEL 
AT  HOME 

U  E  N  O  S 

AIRES,  Ar- 
gentina, Aug.  19. 
— Most  Americans 
visiting  Argentina 
for  the  first  time 
are  impressed  first 
of  all  by  the  health 
and  energy  and 
general  bigness  of 
the  people.  And 
also  by  their  — 
whiteness!  For  a 
negro  is  decidedly 
rare  in  both  Ar- 
gentina and  neigh- 
boring Uruguay. 
The  only  negro  I 
have  seen  during 
the  first  week  is  a  gigantic  porter  in  a 
gorgeous  red  uniform  on  the  sidewalk 
in  front  of  the  hotel.  He  is  from 
Martinique,  and  in  his  queer  French  in- 
sists that  Martinique  is  not  an  island, 
but  a  big  country. 

The  Yankee  should  quickly  feel  at 
home  among  Argentinians  and  Uruguay- 
ans, because  they  are  very  much  like 
ourselves  in  many  ways,  temperamentally 
and  in  business.  The  New  York  execu- 
tive meeting  the  average  Buenos  Aires 
executive  will  find  that  the  latter  knows 
several  times  as  much  as  himself  about 
trading  and  banking,  because  he  does 
business  in  half  a  dozen  currencies  and 
two  or  three  languages. 

The  Philadelphian  will  find  him  per- 
meated with  the  British  conservatism 
which  the  Quaker  City  has  inherited — 
and  may  be  astonished  to  hear  that 
Buenos  Aires,  far  from  being  a  mush- 
room town,  was  founded  100  years  be- 
fore Philadelphia.  The  Bostonian  will 
find  him  bookish  and  musical.  The 
middle  westerner  will  find  that  his 
thoughts  run  to  identical  interests — 
grain,  cattle  and  farming  generally,  with 
projects  for  the  development  of  oil  wells, 
mines,  towns,  railroads  and  highways. 
And  no  Calif ornian  ever  was  as  good  a 
booster  as  the  average  Argentino.  When 
the  latter  says,  "I  am  an  Argentino!"  he 
says  it  with  his  whole  body,  drawing 
himself  up  proudly  and  putting  his  soul 
into  the  declaration.  One  fine  moonlight 
night  on  the  ship  an  Argentino  suddenly 
stopped  chatting  and  pointed  excitedly  to 
the  sky  : 

"There  is  the  map  of  Argentina,"  he 
exclaimed,  pointing  to  a  mass  of  clouds. 
"See!  There  is  La  Plata  and  the  Parana 
and  the  Chaco,  arid  even  Patagonia  and 
Tierra  del  Fuego." 

The   Argentino   is   a  Latin,   but   far 


ARGENTINA 


more  French  than  Spanish.  He  has  a 
Latin  courtesy  and  formality,  but  also  a 
streak  of  frankness  that  makes  him  dif- 
ferent from  Latin-Americans  nearer 
home,  with  whom  we  are  apt  to  be  bet- 
ter acquainted. 

THE  ARGENTINO  AS  HE  IS 

HPHESE  Latins  say,  "Everything  that 
I  have  is  yours,  senor,"  and  are 
eager  to  tell  you  what  they  think  you 
would  like  to  hear.  The  Argentino  will 
compliment  you  also,  but  in  matters  upon 
which  he  can  be  sincere.  He  will  tell  you 
that  he  likes  Yankees  because  their  coun- 
try is  big,  like  his  own,  and  that  Argen- 
tinos  may  well  emulate  the  Yankee  in 
speaking  up  proudly  for  their  country 
and  doing  things  in  a  big  Yankee  way. 
He  will  not  hesitate  to  point  out  cour- 
teously what  he  believes  to  be  shortcom- 
ings in  your  country  or  your  business 
methods.  As  with  the  French  and  our- 
selves, there  seems  to  be  between  Argen- 
tines and  Americans  a  quiet  understand- 
ing, and  an  unspoken  agreement  upon  na- 
tional and  temperamental  things. 

Like  ourselves,  the  Argentino  likes  to 
make  a  good  appearance.  He  is  one  of 
the  best  international  patrons  of  the  tailor 
and  haberdasher.  He  always  has  a  crease 
in  his  trousers  and  likewise  a  crease  in 
his  mind  and  manners.  His  office  is  a 
well-fitted  business  workshop  instead  of 
the  primitive  desk  surrounded  by  bar- 
rels and  boxes  fa- 
miliar in  some 
other  Latin-Amer- 
ican countries, 
where  people  strike 
the  Yankee  as  do- 
ing their  business 
behind  the  barn- 
door. If  he  can 
only  afford  a  cheap 
little  American  au- 
tomobile he  will 
have  it  specially 
painted  and  pol- 
ished, and  its  fit- 
tings silver-plated, 
and  then  add  a 
gorgeous  chauffeur. 
One  of  the  sights 
of  Buenos  Aires  is 
to  see,  among  the 
expensive  Euro- 
pean  and  Amer- 
ican cars  at  the 
opera,  the  Argen- 
tine family  arriv- 
ing in  "El  Fordo" 
with  their  liveried 
chauffeur — and  a 
footman ! 

A  good  deal  has 
been  said  by 
Americans  about 
the  formalities  of 
the  Argentine 


business  man.  Before  you  broach  busi- 
ness subjects  you  are  supposed  to  call 
upon  him  several  times  and  chat  about 
music  and  family  and  social  matters. 

BUSINESS  AND  FRIENDSHIP 

V^OU  are  supposed  to  mingle  business 
with  friendship  in  proportions  of 
about  three  to  one — and  so  on.  But 
probably  this  side  of  business  in  Buenos 
Aires  has  been  overemphasized.  It  is 
true  that  when  you  first  call  upon  busi- 
ness connections  they  will  ask  courteously 
what  sort  of  voyage  you  had  and  about 
your  health  and  your  relatives  in  detail, 
and  you  are  supposed  to  ask  about  their 
relatives  and  themselves.  But  this  all 
has  a  tang  of  novelty,  and  one  quickly 
falls  into  the  spirit  of  it,  and  business  is 
really  done  as  directly  as  among  our- 
selves, and  the  Argentine  courtesies  and 
trimmings  make  the  American  visitor's 
stay  delightful. 

A  group  of  Americans  with  a  big 
equipment  contract  in  view  spent  several 
months  riding  in  the  park  and  playing 
golf  with  Argentine  executives  who  had 
the  placing  of  the  contract.  Then  sud- 
denly some  one  in  the  American  colony 
was  indiscreet,  Argentine  sensibilities 
were  hurt,  and  the  Americans  had  to 
begin  all  over  again.  But  they  landed 
the  contract!  Such  incidents  can  be  told 
in  a  way  to  suggest  that  this  is  a  round- 
about way  to  do  business.     But  many  a 


ARMISTICE    DAY    IN    BUENOS    AIRES.      NOTE   'OLD  GLORY'1    IN    THE    FOREGROUND 


business  concern  at  home  has  its  golf- 
playing  partner,  and  many  a  big  deal 
is  closed  on  our  own  golf  links. 

It  is  winter  now  in  Argentina.  As  a 
theoretical  proposition,  one  has  heard 
that  the  southern  hemisphere  is  opposite 
our  own  in  weather,  with  long,  cold  sum- 
mers and  hot  winters.  But  crossing  the 
equator  in  July,  when  changing  your 
mind  quickly  will  melt  your  collar,  it 
still  looks  like  a  theoretical  proposition. 
But  when  you  land  in  Buenos  Aire  '  with 
a  heavy  overcoat  and  a  straw  hat  you 
learn  that  the  geographers  are  right,  for 
Buenos  Aires  in  winter  is  a  chilly  town. 
With  coal  at  $60  a  ton,  steam  heating 
is  not  common. 

WINTER  AND  THE  FUEL  QUESTION 

'TpHIS  subject  of  a  continent  that  can- 
not keep  itself  warm  is  so  interesting 
that  we  deal  with  it  in  detail  in  a  subse- 
quent article.  The  immediate  thing  for 
the  American  is  to  find  a  place  where  he 
can  keep  himself  warm,  and  he  probably 
flocks  with  his  countrymen  in  the  soli- 
tary hotel  which  has  honest-to-goodness 
steam  heat.  Buenos  Aires  is  in  about  the 
same  latitude  as  Charleston,  S.  C,  and 
seldom  has  freezing  weather  in  winter, 
and,  while  there  is  a  damp,  penetrating 
chill  which  gets  into  the  stone  walls  and 
tile  floors  of  unheated  buildings  and  into 
one's  bones  while  sitting  indoors,  the 
average  winter  day  is  sunny,  and  one  can 
easily  keep  warm 
by  wearing  sub- 
stantial under- 
clothing,  as  the 
Argentinos  and 
British  do.  It  is 
not  nearly  so  bad 
as  Americans, 
clinging  to  light 
clothing  and  their 
steam-heated  civil- 
ization, would  lead 
you  to  believe  in 
advance.  Argen- 
tina, Uruguay  and 
Chile  were  the 
only  Spanish  co- 
lonial possessions 
with  an  invigor- 
a  t  i  n  g  temperate 
climate,  and  they 
have  produced  vig- 
orous peoples  in 
marked  contrast 
with  the  tropical 
countries,  where 
life  for  the  white 
man  is  a  constant 
battle  with  sun  and 
swelter. 

Buenos  Aires  is 
more  French  in  its 
architecture  and 
atmosphere  than 
Spanish.      The 


ARGENTINA 


lower  quarter  of  the  city  is  Spanish  in 
its  narrow  streets,  and  so  are  the 
fifteen-foot  ceilings  universally  found 
in  business  buildings,  hotels  and  homes. 
But  great,  wide  boulevards  lead  away 
from  this  quarter,  and  the  sidewalk  cafes 
and  newspaper  kiosks  and  the  whirling 
automobile  and  sidewalk  traffic  give  the 
"ambiente"  of  Paris.  If  you  tell  that 
to  the  Argentino  it  pleases  him  greatly, 
for  with  all  his  heart  and  soul  he  loves 
Francv  and  Paris  is  his  ideal  in  archi- 
tecture, culture,  recreation  and  business. 
Tell  him  it  is  true. 

The  Opera  and  Jockey  Club  (pro- 
nounced yok-ey  cloob)  are  familiar 
guidebook  institutions  in  Buenos  Aires, 
and  probably  you 
have  heard  about 
them,  and  so  they 
can  be  taken  for 
granted.  But  a 
word  about 
Buenos  Aires'  taxi- 
cabs  may  be  inter- 
esting. 

AND  YET  TAXI 
FARE  IS   LOW 

"TJ  U  E  N  O  S 

""-'AIRES'  taxi- 
cabs  are  imported 
from  Europe  or 
America,  and  cost 
50  per  cent  addi- 
tional," said  an 
American  banker. 
"Gasoline  costs  75 
cents  a  gallon,  and 
tires  and  acces- 
sories are  all  im- 
ported. Yet  fares 
are  lower  than  in 
London  or  Berlin 
in  normal  times. 
You  can  ride  a  few 
blocks  for  as  little 
as  fifteen  or  twenty 
cents.  I  take  a 
taxicab  to  my  house 
in  Belgrano,  seven 
miles,  twenty  min- 
utes on  the  railroad,  for  about  $1.50 
American  money,  and  the  taxi  driver 
takes  his  chance  of  coming  back  without 
a  passenger." 

How  do  they  do  it? 

A  little  study  of  the  system  will  show 
how  it  is  done  and  furnish  valuable  sug- 
gestions for  similar  service  in  our  own 
cities.  Buenos  Aires  simply  has  learned 
that  there  is  a  big  public  in  any  city  that 
will  gladly  pay  for  something  better  than 
the  ordinary,  street-car  ride.  In  New 
York  we  have  blundered  on  to  this 
valuable  business  idea  with  the  ten-cent 
motorbus,  but  taxicabs  are  still  regarded 


as  a  luxury.  The  New  York  taxicab 
hauls  an  occasional  passenger  a  mile  or 
two  for  fifty  cents  to  a  dollar,  and  then 
waits  perhaps  an  hour  for  another  passen- 
ger. The  Buenos  Aires  taxicabs  are 
everywhere,  carrying  passengers  on  short 
trips,  with  a  convenience  and  flexibility 
impossible  by  trolley  car,  and  even  while 
one  passenger  is  paying  for  his  ride  an- 
other is  climbing  in.  Buenos  Aires  has 
built  its  cheap  taxicab  system  by  develop- 
ing a  taxicab  public  beyond  any  other  city 
in  the  world,  and  we  Yankees,  who  make 
business  in  other  lines  by  building  it,  may 
well  study  the  system. 


INTERIOR   OF   BUENOS   AIRES    STORE.    SHOWING    GOODS    OP    ARGENTINE    MAKE 


ARTICLE  IV 

BUENOS  AIRES  BIG  FIELD 

FOR  U.  S.  MEN'S  CLOTHING 

DUENOS  AIRES,  Aug.  19.— One 
hears  a  good  deal  of  whispering  in 
Buenos  Aires  about  British  resentment  of 
American  trade  expansion  during  the 
war,  and  of  organized  British  propaganda 
against  the  Americans.  But  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  run  any  of  this  whispering  down 
to  a  basis  of  fact.  During  the  coming 
vear  British  and  American  relations  will 
be  strenghtened  by  openness  and  good 
understanding  while  things  are  getting 
back  to  normal.  If  the  British  are  really 
using  propaganda  it  will  defeat  itself  if 


untrue.  And  as  for  British  competition, 
that  is  not  worth  worrying  about,  com- 
pared with  another  kind  of  competition 
which  American  world  trade  faces — 
that  of  our  great  consuming  demand  at 
home  and  the  American  business  man's 
absorption  in  home  trade  and  his  indif- 
ference toward  creating  world  trade  with 
a  definite  policy. 

Shortly  after  the  armistice,  when  a 
lull  came  in  business  at  home,  an  Ameri- 
can manufacturer  sent  a  sales  representa- 
tive to  Buenos  Aires.  Consulting  the 
statistics,  he  saw  that  Buenos  Aires  was 
a  city  of  nearly  2,000,000  people,  but 
overlooked  the  fact  that  it  contains 
about  one-fourth  of  Argentina's  whole 
population,  which 
is  hardly  greater 
than  that  of  New 
York's  meropolitan 
district. 


HAVE   WRONG 
VIEWPOINT 

"YOUR  sales 
quota  for 
Buenos  Aires  will 
be  $500,000,"  he 
said,  and  the  sales- 
man took  ship  for 
the  southern  conti- 
nent. Foremost  in 
the  latter's  mind 
was  the  necessity 
for  making  h  i  s 
quota.  Dozens  of 
American  salesmen 
are  sent  abroad 
with  the  same 
viewpoint,  which  is 
absolutely  wrong, 
as  will  be  seen. 

Arriving  in 
Buenos  Aires,  he 
first  canvassed  the 
big  wholesale  mer- 
chants and  sold 
$100,000  worth  of 
stuff.  Then  he 
visited  the  small 
jobbers  and  placed 
$200,000  more 
with  them.  After 
only  the  retailers, 
lines,  he  canvassed 


that  there  remained 
Breaking  over  trade 
these,  and  finally  succeeded  in  making  his 
quota  and  went  home  jubilant.  The  out- 
come was  that  when  wholesalers  tried  to 
sell  their  goods  to  their  customers  they 
found  their  shelves  filled,  and  as  differ- 
ent prices  had  been  made  to  different 
people  the  feeling  in  Argentina  toward 
that  salesman  and  his  house  may  be  im- 
agined. It  is  a  feeling  which  extends  to 
every  newly  arrived  American  and  leads 
many  an  Argentine  business  man  to  ex- 
claim, "Ah,  but  I  will  be  glad  when  the 
British  are  able  to  supply  us  again!" 

A  young  Argentine  went  to  the  United 
States  to  learn  the  shoe  business.    A  Bos- 


8 


ARGENTINA 


ton  manufacturer  paid  him  a  salary  while 
he  spent  a  month  in  the  factory  and  then 
sent  him  on  the  road.  He  spoke  good 
English,  being  of  British  descent,  and  his 
Latin  courtesy  got  him  a  hearing  every- 
where. But  he  found  stiff  competition 
and  sold  only  a  couple  of  dozen  pairs  of 
shoes  the  first  week  at  a  cost  of  $200. 
Much  discouraged  on  returning  to  Bos- 
ton, he  was  astonished  to  hear  his  boss 
praise  him — that  was  considered  a  good 
beginning  for  a  student.  Sent  on  the 
road  again,  he  sold  twenty  dozen  pairs 
of  shoes  the  second  week  and  presently 
was  doing  a  good  business  in  territory 
where  that  house  had  had  few  customers. 
The  American  business  man  at  home 
thoroughly  understands  the  value  of  time 
and  training  and  patience  in  making  con- 
nections upon  which  to  build  trade  later. 
Why  can  he  not  understand  it  in  dealing 
with  world  trade? 

BUSINESS  UIN  DEVELOPED 

A  T  home  we  think  of  business  in  terms 
of  volume  and  concentration.  There 
is  volume  waiting  abroad,  but  it  is  unde- 
veloped, and  to  attain  it  we  must  pa- 
tiently begin  at  the  bottom,  as  we  have 
done  at  home. 

A  tailor-made  suit  of  clothes  costs 
$75  to  $100  in  Buenos  Aires  today,  and 
only  the  well-to-do  can  afford  it.  Be- 
tween the  cheap  hand-me-downs  worn  by 
the  poorer  classes  and  the  work  clothes 
of  country  people  and  the  costly  tailored 
suit  there  is  a  great  gap.  Trim,  ready- 
made  clothes  on  American  lines  are  vir- 
tually unknown.  The  Argentino  likes 
to  make  a  good  appearance,  however,  and 
there  should  be  a  good  potential  market 
for  American  ready-to-wear  clothes.  But 
building  up  the  business  calls  for  patient 


pioneer  work  under  the  handicap  of  high 
import  duties. 

Most  of  the  woolen  cloth  sold  in  Ar- 
gentina prior  to  the  war  was  British,  the 
staple  product  of  John  Bull's  midland 
country,  where  the  people  are  born  spin- 
ners and  weavers  and  boast  that  they  can 
make  cloth  of  "anything  that  has  two 
ends  to  it."  British  wages  and  material 
costs  today  are  such  that  our  woolen  mills 
are  on  a  level  footing  in  prices,  and  in 
some  cases  have  decided  price  advantages. 
But  unless  we  are  willing  to  forget  ways 
of  doing  business  at  home  and  start  cre- 
ating new  trade  for  ourselves  in  coun- 
tries like  Argentina  by  introducing 
American  ready-to-wear  through  educa- 
tional salesmanship  and  advertising, 
backed  with  an  intelligent  policy,  we 
will  probably  hold  little  woolen  business 
abroad — nor  do  we  deserve  to. 

GIVE  SATISFACTION  FIRST 

HpHE  American  woolen  mill  sells 
thousands  of  yards  of  cloth  to  a 
single  big  clothing  manufacturer  at  home. 
This  manufacturer  has  his  own  facili- 
ties for  sponging  and  shrinking  the  cloth. 
No  such  customer  can  be  found  in  Ar- 
gentina. Following  methods  familiar  at 
home,  the  same  mill  may  sell  a  few  hun- 
dred yards  to  an  Argentine  purchaser, 
forgetting  that  the  latter  has  no  spong- 
ing or  shrinking  facilities,  and  there  is 
dissatisfaction. 

At  home  a  big  manufacturer,  of  mod- 
erate-priced men's  suits  will  purchase  a 
cheap  cloth  woven  with  30  per  cent 
wool  and  70  per  cent  cotton,  ornamented 
with  a  stripe  of  silk.  This  cloth  goes 
from  the  woolen  mill  to  the  American 
clothing  factory  without  any  complica- 
tions of   tariff.      Sold   to   an   Argentine 


FREIGHT    TRAIN    OX    SIDING    AT    A    BUENOS  AIRES    WAREHOUSE 


ARGENTINE  COWBOY 

purchaser,  however,  and  invoiced  as  a 
mixture  of  cotton,  wool  and  silk,  it  is 
subject  to  three  times  the  duty  of  a  cot- 
ton-and-woolen  fabric  solely  on  account 
of  the  silk  stripe.  The  American  sales- 
man may  have  forgotten  to  explain  this 
to  his  Argentine  customer — perhaps  did 
not  know  that  it  was  very  impor- 
tant in  the  cost  of  the  goods  laid  down. 

The  American  salesman,  obsessed  by 
the  fear  of  not  making  his  sales  quota  in 
Buenos  Aires,  looking  for  customers  who 
can  buy  on  a  large  scale,  like  those  at 
home,  finds  his  British  competitor  sell- 
ing small  lots  of  woolen  cloth — orders 
which  seem  too  insignificant  to  bother 
with.  Yet  these  small  lots  represent  vol- 
ume on  the  British  plan.  John  Bull's 
woolen  trade  is  often  bigger  than  our 
own.  He  simply  builds  volume  by 
spreading  it  over  the  world.  The  woolen 
samples  shown  in  Buenos  Aires  are  also 
being  shown  in  Hong  Kong,  Calcutta, 
Montreal  and  Melbourne.  Individual 
purchases  in  each  market  which  look  in- 
significant to  us,  when  massed  in  the 
British  woolen  mills,  mount  up  to  aggre- 
gates comparable  with  the  largest  indi- 
vidual purchases  by  American  clothing 
manufacturers. 

If  we  can  only  realize  that  we  are  in 
competition  not  with  the  British,  but 
with  our  own  ways  of  doing  business  at 
home,  and  forget  volume  and  the  selling 
quota,  and  begin  creating  business  abroad 
by  patiently  making  connections,  we  will 
create  new  business  and  it  will  belong  to 
us.  In  ready-to-wear  clothing  for  men, 
women  and  children  most  of  the  people 
in  world  markets  are  about  where  we 
were  ourselves  twenty-five  years  ago, 
when  such  garments  were  of  indifferent 
quality  in  fit  and  appearance.  Through 
better  manufacturing  methods  and  good 
consuming  advertising  we  have  built  up 
an  enormous  clothing  industry.  People 
are  pretty  much  the  same  the  world  over. 
The  same  intelligence  and  effort  applied 
in  world  markets  will  produce  the  same 
results. 

Already  the  American  idea  begins  to 
pervade  Buenos  Aires.  The  Argentinos 
are  strikingly  conservative  in  the  matter 
of  color.     Both  men  and  women  cling  to 


ARGENTINA 


solid  black,  blue,  gray  and  neutral  colors 
in  dress  with  almost  a  distrust  of  pat- 
terns. But  American  men  and  women  on 
the  streets  of  Buenos  Aires  during  the 
last  year  or  two,  wearing  colors  and  pat- 
terns unashamed,  have  attracted  atten- 
tion. So  have  our  ready-made  clothes.  If 
an  Argentino  can  afford  a  tailor-made 
suit  at  175  to  200  pesos  he  will  be  well 
dressed.  At  home  the  man  with  a  small 
income  buys  a  well-tailored  ready-made 
suit  for  $30,  which  makes  him  look  like 


ARTICLE  V 
LEADING  NEWSPAPER 
USES  YANKEE  METHODS 

DUENOS  AIRES,  Aug.  22.— Buenos 
Aires  has  a  number  of  excellent 
newspapers,  of  which  perhaps  La  Prensa 
is  best  known  internationally  through 
Dr.  Jose  Paz,  its  founder,  and  its  mag- 
nificent building,  said  to  be  the  finest 
newspaper  building  in  the  world. 

Another  great  morning  daily  in  the 
Argentine  capital  is  not  so  well  known — 
La  Nacion,  which  differs  decidedly  from 
La  Prensa  in  character.     La  Prensa  is 


When  the  war  interfered  with  paper 
supplies  from  Europe  Dr.  Jorge  Mitre, 
director  of  La  Nacion,  set  out  upon  his 
first  visit  to  New  York.  Along  with  pa- 
per he  got  American  business  ideas.  La 
Nacion's  front  page  had  been  occupied  by 
want  ads  for  three  generations.  Doctor 
Mitre  has  filled  it  with  news,  in  the 
Yankee  style.  Argentine  newspapers  are 
set  solid,  with  hundreds  of  cable  items 
classified  by  countries.  The  completeness 
of  their  world  information  has  made 
Argentine    readers    among   the   best    in- 


EXPOSITION     OF     ARGENTINE     ROME     PRODUCTS    IN    A    BIG    BUENOS    AIRES    DEPARTMENT    STORE 


$50.  In  Buenos  Aires  a  man  with  only 
$30  pays  $40  or  $50  for  a  suit  that  makes 
him  look  like  the  deuce.  American 
ready-to-wear  garments  or  clothes  of  the 
same  kind  made  on  American  lines  in 
Argentina  are  undoubtedly  needed. 
Tariff  duties  and  other  complications  will 
make  it  difficult  to  build  trade  at  first, 
but  the  demand  is  undoubtedly  there 
and  it  can  be  done  if  it  is  done  right. 
The  real  way  to  reach  the  buyer  is 
to  show  him.  This  can  be  done  readily 
by  the  opening  of  American  showrooms. 


regarded  highly  for  its  business  news,  and 
might  perhaps  be  called  popular  in  tone. 
La  Nacion  is  considered  more  critical 
and  literary,  with  a  strong  influence  in 
molding  public  opinion.  It  is  said  that 
with  a  series  of  articles  this  paper  can 
overthrow  a  government.  It  has  the 
cable  service  of  the  London  Times,  the 
New  York  Times  and  World,  and  the 
feature  service  of  the  Public  Ledger. 
It  would  be  possible  in  a  copy  of  La 
Prensa  any  morning  to  find  cable  news 
from  virtually  every  country  and  capital 
on  the  globe. 


formed  on  the  globe  and  created  a  broad 
public  opinion  about  world  matters,  in 
contrast  to  our  own  somewhat  provincial 
partiality  for  local  news.  But  the  Ar- 
gentine reader  has  always  had  to  work 
pretty  hard  to  get  his  information. 
When  Doctor  Mitre  got  home  again  he 
began  lighting  up  this  solid  news  with 
Yankee  headlines  and  layouts.  Yankee 
enterprise  in  advertising  also  impressed 
the  Buenos  Aires  publisher  so  forcefully 
that  he  opened  an  advertising  office  in 
New  York  for  his  paper  and  another 
office    for    news,    and    began     making 


10 


ARGENTINA 


La  Nacion  known  to  American  busi- 
ness houses.  He  has  also  taken  steps  to 
improve  his  printing  plant  with  the  lat- 
est American  mechanical  devices.  And 
this  is  only  a  beginning,  for  next  year 
Doctor  Mitre  intends  to  visit  us  again 
and  adopt  still  more  of  our  publishing 
methods. 

LOSING  MONEY 

PHE  amount  of  American  advertising 
which  we  are  receiving  does  not  yet 
correspond  to  the  somewhat  costly  mis- 
sionary work  we  have  done  in  your  coun- 
try," he  said  to  the  writer.  "Will  you 
tell  me  why?" 

"Well,  here  is  one  reason,"  I  replied. 
"The  Yankee  has  heard  that  Latin 
Americans  are  horse  traders — that  every 
business  deal  involves  dickering  for  prices. 
Our  advertisers  at  a  distance,  paying  the 
rates  asked  by  your  paper,  fear  that  the 
Argentine  advertiser  right  here  at  home 
may  be  getting  a  lower  rate." 

"We  have  taken  steps  to  meet  that  dis- 
trust," answered  the  publisher.  "It  has 
been  well  founded.  La  Nacion  still  has 
old  contracts,  but  I  am  happy  to  say  that 
at  the  beginning  of  the  new  year  we  shall 
be  able  to  announce  an  advertising  rate 
card  on  North  American  lines.  It  has 
taken  us  nearly  two  years  to  make  this 
adjustment." 

"If  you  have  accomplished  this  in  two 
years  you  are  to  be  congratulated — it  took 
almost  a  generation  in  our  country.  An- 
other reason  for  hesitancy  on  the  part  of 
our  advertisers  in  this  field  is  that  we 
lack  information  about  the  people  of  Ar- 
gentina. At  home,  you  know,  advertis- 
ing is  based  on  definite  lines  of  appeal  to 
our  own  people,  whom  we  thoroughly 
know — motives  like  ambition  for  success, 
pride  in  appear- 
ance, pride  in  one's 
home,  comfort,  the 
saving  of  labor 
and  so  on.  Amer- 
ican advertisers, 
not  being  able  yet 
to  clearly  visualize 
the  people  of  Ar- 
gentina and  under- 
stand the  lines  of 
appeal  which  will 
impress  them,  are 
not  able  to  plan 
advertising  cam- 
paigns here  and 
prepare  advertis- 
ing copy  which 
will  produce  re- 
sults." 

"We  have  es- 
tablished our  New 
York  office  largely 
to  give  informa- 
tion and  a  d- 
vice,"  said  Doctor 
Mitre. 


BERKSHIRE    HOG    BRED    IN    ARGENTINA 
FROM   AMERICAN    STOCK  . 


HISTORY  OF  PAPER 

"T  HAVE  watched  your  advertising  an- 
nouncements in  the  United  States," 
I  added,  "and  believe  that  they  might  be 
strengthened  by  a  new  appeal.  You  have 
here  not  merely  a  newspaper,  but  an  in- 
stitution. La  Nacion  was  founded  by 
your  grandfather,  Bartolome  Mitre.  His 
story  is  probably  so  familiar  to  you  Ar- 
gentines that  you  forget  that  it  is  entirely 
unknown  to  us.  Tell  us  the  story  of  La 
Nacion  and  General  Mitre.  He  was  first 
a  poet  and  a  journalist,  one  of  the  hand- 
ful of  newspaper  reporters  who,  like  Sar- 
miento,  overthrew  the  Dictator  Rosas 
and  established  your  present  government. 
He  was  also  a  soldier,  a  historian  and  a 
statesman,  serving  as  president  of  your 
republic.  He  has  been  declared  by  an 
American  writer  to  be  one  of  the  strong- 
est and  sanest  intellects  in  Argentina  and 
also  one  of  your  most  sincere  and  con- 
structive politicians.  Until  I  stepped  into 
your  office  today  I  had  never  seen  a  pic- 
ture of  Bartolome  Mitre.  In  the  United 
States  we  would  instinctively  put  behind 
La  Nacion  the  great  personality  of  its 
founder,  for  we  like  personalities,  and 
this  is  the  direct  road  to  our  better  under- 
standing, not  merely  of  your  journal,  but 
of  vour  country." 


NEW    HOG-PACKING    PLANT 


ARMVJUR    &  CO.    IN    BUENOS   AIRES 


"The  circulation  of  La  Nacion  is  now 
130,000  copies  daily,"  said  Doctor 
Mitre.  "Can  you  explain  why  there  are 
newspapers  in  Philadelphia,  a  city  ap- 
proximately the  size  of  Buenos  Aires, 
that  have  three  and  four  times  the  circu- 
lation?" 

Whereupon  there  followed  a  discus- 
sion of  circulation  methods,  and  it  ap- 
peared that  La  Nacion  had  no  such  func- 
tionary as  a  circulation  manager.  Hav- 
ing had  occasion  to  investigate  circulation 
methods  of  American  papers  like  the 
Public  Ledger  and  other  Philadelphia 
dailies,  the  Chicago  Daily  News,  the 
Brooklyn  Eagle,  the  Boston  Globe  and 
the  New  York  World,  the  writer  was 
able  to  tell  Doctor  Mitre  things  that  sug- 
gested other  American  business  methods 
worth  adopting.  The  Yankee  circulation 
manager  not  only  covers  every  corner  of 
his  city  by  automobiles  and  carriers, 
but  if  a  newsstand  in  a  residence  dis- 
trict cuts  its  daily  order  for  papers,  even 
a  copy  or  two,  he  will  immediately  in- 
vestigate to  find  out  what  is  wrong  and 
be  satisfied  only  when  he  learns  that 
some  reader  has  moved  from  that  neigh- 
borhood. La  Nacion  has  a  large  circu- 
lation in  the  provinces.  Its  following  of 
readers  could  unquestionably  be  built  up 
by  some  such  method  as  that  followed 
by  the  Des  Moines  Capital,  which  has  a 
fixed  day  each  year  for  securing  country 
subscriptions. 

TOO  MUCH  CONCENTRATION 

^S  Doctor  Mitre  listened  to  these  de- 
tails of  the  intensive  work  of 
Yankee  circulation  men  and  also  our 
newspaper  advertising  staffs,  there  came 
over  his  countenance  the  look  of  a  man 
who  had  missed  something  in  our  business 
methods  of  great 
importance  to  him- 
self,  and  he 
brought  in  his  cou- 
sin, who  is  also 
active  in  the  direc- 
tion of  La  Nacion, 
and  translated  par- 
ticulars to  him. 

"O  n  e  of  the 
faults  of  Argen- 
tine business  must 
be  overcome,"  he 
declared  finally. 
"It  is  the  fault  of 
too  much  concen- 
tration. We  en- 
deavor to  run  a  big 
business  enterprise 
with  one  man,  the 
director,  and  lack 
big  men  to  run 
such  departments 
as  circulation  and 
advertising." 

"With  the  quick 
Argentine  intelli- 
gence,"     I      s  u  g- 


ARGENTINA 


11 


gested,  "there  should  be  little  diffi- 
culty in  strengthening  your  organiza- 
tion. Send  one  or  two  of  your  em- 
ployes to  the  United  States  and  let  them 
actually  work  for  a  few  months  in 
the  circulation  and  advertising  depart- 
ments of  leading  North  American  news- 
papers. There  is  no  better  city  in  the 
United  States  for  such  practical  studies 
than  Philadelphia,  with  its  numerous 
morning  and  evening  papers,  distributed 
over  a  wide  territory  in  eager  rivalry,  and 
its  marked  development  of  newspaper  ad- 
vertising, which  is  utilized  not  only  by 
the  great  manufacturers  and  merchants, 
but  also  by  small  business  concerns.  Our 
newspapermen  will  not  only  reveal  their 
methods  gladly,  but  will  welcome  such 
contacts  with  Argentinos." 


mally,  or  $4  or  $5  in  New  York  if  of 
American  make,  cost  the  writer  twenty- 
one  pesos  on  the  Avenida  de  Mayo — 
more  than  $9  in  our  money.  Toilet 
articles,  such  as  dentifrices  and  shaving 
creams,  retailed  for  twenty  or  thirty  cents 
at  home,  utterly  ruin  an  American  dollar 
bill.  Even  food  is  expensive.  For,  while 
Argentina  has  perhaps  the  richest  soil  in 
the  world,  her  farming  centers  on  cat- 
tle, grain  and  sheep,  with  little  develop- 
ment as  yet  of  dairy  products,  vegeta- 
bles, fruit  and  the  trimmings  of  life,  and 
even  where  these  are  grown  facilities  for 
bringing  them  to  market  are  undevel- 
oped. 

Some  articles  are  cheap  by  contrast.  A 
delicious  Argentine  partridge  or  wild 
duck  served  in  a  restaurant  costs  sixty  to 
seventy  cents  and  would  be  unobtainable 
in   New   York.      But   up   in   Tucuman, 


ness  gets  under  way  about  11,  only  to 
halt  for  two  hours  during  lunch  from 
12  to  2.  Then  the  offices  are  open  until 
7  or  8  in  the  evening,  but  everybody  stops 
for  tea  between  4  and  5.  Dinner  comes 
between  7  and  9,  and  then  the  operas  and 
theatres  open  and  run  until  12  to  1. 
After  that  the  restaurants  fill  again,  and 
one  of  the  busiest  hours  of  the  day  is  2 
a.  m.,  when  the  Buenos  Aires  folk  begin 
to  think  about  going  to  bed. 

After  the  visitor  learns  more  about 
the  Argentine  capital  he  discovers  that 
a  great  many  of  its  residents  make  a  liv- 
ing with  the  greatest  difficulty,  while 
others  apparently  have  life  served  to  them 
on  a  golden  platter.  It  is  the  familiar 
situation  of  an  upper  and  a  lower  class, 
with  hardly  any  middle  class  between, 
and  is  reflected  in  everything  the  city 
eats,  drinks,  wears  and  does. 


ARTICLE  VI 

HIGH  COST  OF 
LIVING  HITS 
BUENOS 
AIRES 

D  U  E  N  O  S 
AIRES,  Aug. 
26.— R  e  a  d  the 
briefest  guide- 
b  o  o  k  description 
of  Buenos  Aires, 
with  its  schedules 
of  hotel  and  mer- 
chandise prices  ex- 
ceeding those  of 
New  York,  and  its 
rising  2,000,000 
population  in  a  na- 
tion of  8,000,000, 
and  there  natur- 
ally comes  into 
one's  mind  the 
questions:  "How 
do  all  these  people 
live?  What  do  they 
work  at  ?  Where 
do  they  get  the 
money    to    play    the    game  ?" 

When  our  ship  docked  in  the  late  win- 
ter afternoon  there  was  an  immediate 
stampede  of  passengers  to  the  hotels  seek- 
ing rooms,  and  the  New  Yorker  who  had 
cabled  ahead  ordering  his  standard 
Yankee  room  with  bath  in  a  leading  hotel 
was  probably  thankful  to  find  shelter  in 
a  pension  that  night.  Hotel  rates  in  the 
Argentine  capital  average  25  to  50  per 
cent  higher  than  in  New  York,  yet  the 
hotels  are  always  full.  Houses  are  so 
scarce  that  months  of  waiting  and  nego- 
tiations are  often  necessary  before  the 
new  arrival  can  put  a  roof  over  his 
family. 

CLOTHING  EXPENSIVE 

PLOTHING  costs  from  50  to  100  per 

cent  more — a  London  derby  which 

would  be  worth  $3  in  Bond  street  nor- 


T! 


PARADE  OF  PRIZE  CATTLE  IN  ARGENTINA'S    LEADING    STOCK    SHOW 


which  is  the  Florida  of  the  Argentine, 
■  the  truck  grower  receives  eight  cents  a 
dozen  for  tomatoes  during  the  winter 
and  by  the  time  they  reach  Buenos  Aires 
the  grocer  has  to  charge  a  dollar  or  two, 
because  Argentina  has  yet  to  organize 
refrigerating  shipments  of  perishables  on 
lines  standard  in  the  United  States. 

How  Buenos  Aires  makes  a  living  has 
an  important  bearing  upon  its  consuming 
capacity. 

TOWN  RISES  LATE 

TOURING  the  first  few  days  after  his 
arrival  the  visitor,  who  probably 
keeps  close  to  the  Avenida  and  the  res- 
taurants, wonders  if  the  people  of  Buenos 
Aires  worry  about  the  matter  at  all.  It 
is  a  town  that  rises  late  and  stays  up 
late.  The  streets  are  almost  empty  until 
9  or  10  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  busi- 


NATIVE  IS 
"PORTENO" 

HE  native  of 
Buenos  Aires  is 
known  as  a  "por- 
teno."  He  is  a 
child  of  the  gate- 
way into  the  Ar- 
gentine, and  the 
term,  of  which  he 
is  proud,  has 
much  economic 
significan  c  e. 
Through  this 
gateway  flow  out 
the  wheat,  corn, 
beef,  hides,  wool 
and  other  prod- 
ucts of  the  rich 
Argentine  campo, 
with  an  inward 
flow  of  the  mer- 
chandise and  im- 
plements c  o  n  - 
sumed  in  the  re- 
public. The  "por- 
teno"  is  occupied 
with  the  traffic 
both  ways,  upon  which  he  charges  hand- 
some mercantile  profits.  The  greater 
part  of  Argentina's  federal  revenue  is 
raised  by  tariff  duties  upon  imported 
merchandise.  So  the  capital  has  an  army 
of  government  officials  and  clerks  to  ad- 
minister the  regulations. 

Hardly  a  generation  ago  poor  immi- 
grants from  Spain  and  Italy  flowed 
through  the  gateway  out  upon  the  fertile 
pampas,  where  cattle  and  horses  roamed 
wild,  and  the  gaucho,  or  Argentine  cow- 
boy, part  Spanish  and  part  Indian, 
herded  and  killed  them  for  their  hides. 
The  new  arrivals  took  up  land,  fenced 
it,  imported  well-bred  animals  from  Eu- 
rope and  began  raising  wheat  and  corn 
with  such  bountiful  yields  and  low  costs 
that,  when  export" trade  to  Europe  began, 
they  quickly  became  rich.  The  country 
encouraged    large    families — to    have    a 


12 


ARGENTINA 


dozen  brothers  and  sisters  is  very  com- 
mon among  Argentinos.  When  the  orig- 
inal settlers  died  their  millions  were  be- 
queathed equally  to  their  children,  under 
the  Argentine  legacy  law,  which  is  like 
that  of  France. 

ARE  GOOD  SPENDERS 

HpHUS  it  came  about  that  Juan  and 
Pedro,  steady  sons  who  had  worked 
the  estancia  with  their  father,  remained 
in  the  country,  while  Carlitos  and  Angel 
and  Atanasio  and  Santiago,  finding  the 
country  slow,  hurried  to  Buenos  Aires, 
with  its  big-town  attractions,  and  devoted 
themselves  to  spending  their  money.  Very 
likely  the  girls  went  with  them,  and 
Selina  and  Victoria  and  Amata  and  Cata- 
lina  often  did  a  better  job  of  spending, 
with  the  expert  assistance  of  idle  hus- 
bands. 

One  of  the  favorite  stock  stories  in  our 
movies  is  that  of  the  gilded  youth  forced 
to  work  on  a  farm  or  ranch  and  make  a 
man  of  himself.  This  film  also  tickles 
the  Argentinos,  especially  country  peo- 
ple and  workers,  who  visualize  their  own 
gilded  youth  and  love  to  see  them  go  to 
work — in  the  movies. 

This  is  the  upper  class  in  Buenos 
Aires,  reinforced  by  the  merchants  who 
handle  the  traffic  of  the  gateway  and  the 
bankers  and  officials  who  use  foreign 
capital  to  develop  Argentine  resources. 
From  time  to  time  some  slight  punctures 
in  one  of  the  tires  of  prosperity  cause  a 
pause.  This  happened  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  when  merchandise  and  capi- 
tal from  Europe  were  suddenly  cut  off 
and  the  demand  for  Argentine  products 
changed  in  character,  and  everybody  felt 
poor  until  merchandise  and  money 
flowed  in  from  the  United  States.  The 
Argentine  Government  is  now  tem- 
porarily pinched  because  revenue  from 
exports  fell  off  during  the  war.  The 
basic  resources  of  Argentina  are  so  great, 
however,  and  her  farming  is  on  such  a 
quantity  production  basis  that  for  the 
favored  upper  class  wealth  is  abundant 
in  its  flow,  and  among  the  world's  mil- 
lionaires the  Argentino  is  "unico." 

HIGH  COST  OF  LIVING 

DUT  for  the  government  clerk,  the 
newly  arrived  immigrant  and  the 
native  earning  wages  or  a  moderate  sal- 
ary life  is  not  so  gay.  In  every  business 
establishment  one  sees  the  sign,  "No  hay 
vacante" — no  help  needed.  Thousands 
of  families  make  a  slender  income  do  its 
utmost  by  living  in  "conventillos,"  which 
are  barrack-like  tenements  of  perhaps  a 
single  room,  with  none  of  the  decencies 
of  life.  Rents  for  those  are  high,  taking 
often  a  quarter  of  the  breadwinner's 
wages,  and  the  rest  goes  for  food  at 
prices  so  high  in  proportion  that  there  is 
bitter  complaint  and  an  agitation  for  im- 
proved social  conditions.  During  the  last 
year  there  have  been  several  serious  out- 
breaks in  Argentina — the  great  railway 


strike  throughout  the  country,  which  was 
very  destructive  to  property;  the  strike 
of  dock  workers  in  Buenos  Aires,  which 
piled  thousands  of  tons  of  freight  across 
the  Rio  Plata  in  Montevideo,  and  unrest 
among  agricultural  workers,  about  which 
not  so  much  has  been  heard  in  the  United 
States.  This  unrest  is  due  partly  to  tem- 
porary conditions — the  unrest  following 
war  and  inflation  of  currency,  which 
makes  it  difficult  to  live  on  inflated 
wages. 

But  when  the  world  gets  back  to  nor- 
mal there  will  still  be  conditions  pecu- 
liarly Argentine  calling  for  adjustment. 
It  is  a  country  of  large  landowners  and 
millionaires,  with  not  very  well  paid  ag- 
ricultural laborers  and  unskilled  work- 
ers in  cities.  It  needs  manufacturing  in- 
dustries and  a  diversification  of  farm 
products,  improvement  in  transportation, 
the  cutting  up  of  large  ranches  into  farms 
like  our  own,  and  other  changes.  Many 
of  Argentina's  problems  are  due  to  lack 
of  population,  but  not  all.  Lotteries  and 
race-track  gambling  waste  the  time  and 
money  of  everybody  in  Buenos  Aires,  and 
can  only  be  cured  when  the  people  see 
this  waste  clearly — as  they  are  now  be- 
ginning to  do.  When  you  visit  your 
Buenos  Aires  customers  it  may  strike 
you  that  they  could  make  improvements 
in  just  such  things  and  thereby  improve 
living  conditions  for  the  mass  of  people 
in  their  city.  But  do  not  jump  to  the 
conclusion  that  you  have  discovered  these 
shortcomings,  for  the  Argentinos  them- 
selves are  fullv  awake  to  them. 


ARTICLE  VII 


U.  S.  PACKERS  URGE 
MODERN  METHODS 

DUENOS  AIRES,  Aug.  28.— When 
the  American  packers  first  went  to 
Argentina  about  four  years  ago  the  re- 
public had  just  begun  to  hear  about  our 
trusts.  With  dread  names  like  Armour 
and  Swift  in  their  "frigorifico"  indus- 
try, the  Argentinos  were  alarmed  and 
organized  a  huge  committee  of  ranch 
owners  and  business  men  to  fight  the 
trust  invasion.  At  the  height  of  the  ex- 
citement a  meeting  was  held,  and  a  level- 
headed rancher  of' Italian  descent  rose 
and  said: 

"Let  us  deal  with  this  situation  on  the 
facts.  I  have  observed  that  every  time 
a  new  packing  house  is  established  in 
Buenos  Aires  I  get  more  money  for  my 
cattle.  If  the  American  trusts  increase 
my  profits,  let  more  of  them  come ;  if 
they  are  bad,  we  Argentinos  have  power 
to  make  laws  and  control  them." 


It  is  a  matter  of  history  that  the 
American  packers  doubled  prices  paid  to 
ranchers  during  the  days  when  the  indus- 
try was  represented  only  by  British  and 
Argentine  concerns.  This  was  accom- 
plished partly  through  economies  in 
packing,  worked  out  in  the  great  indus- 
try in  Chicago,  with  saving  of  by-prod- 
ucts which  had  formerly  gone  to  waste 
in  Argentina,  and  partly  by  experience  in 
distributing  meat  and  other  products 
through  their  own  wholesale  organiza- 
tion. At  one  time  British  packers  had 
no  trade  machinery  in  England  for  dis- 
tributing their  meat  to  the  retailers  and 
lost  money  through  profits  paid  to  out- 
side middlemen.  As  for  by-products,  the 
remarks  of  an  American  engineer  may  be 
quoted. 

PACKERS   INTRODUCE  HOGS 

'"TPHERE  are  two  packing  houses  not 
operated  by  Chicago  companies,"  he 
said,  pointing  to  a  couple  of  large  plants 
as  our  ship  entered  Montevideo.  "I  can 
take  you  through  them  and  show  you  by- 
products we  save  which  are  running 
away  into  the  river." 

Today  the  Chicago  packers  are  ex- 
tending Argentina's  meat  industry  by  the 
introduction  of  hogs. 

Mention  hogs  to  the  average  Argen- 
tine rancher  and  he  smiles  skeptically. 
All  through  the  period  when  the  repub- 
lic's meat  industry  was  developing,  from 
wild  cattle  killed  for  their  hides  into  the 
meat-extra  factory,  and  then  the  modern 
refrigerator  ship  and  packing  plant,  hogs 
were  neglected  because  unprofitable. 
Every  estancia  had  its  small  drove  of 
pigs,  but  entirely  for  home  consumption, 
and  of  the  light  weight,  slow-growing 
razorback  type.  Hogs  were  not  profit- 
able because  there  was  no  market  for 
them  outside  country  towns,  and  mean- 
while Buenos  Aires  paid  high  prices  for 
pork,  ham  and  bacon.  There  was  no 
market  because  none  of  the  packers  pur- 
chased hogs  regularly  and  shipped  the 
pork  to  Europe. 

From  time  to  time  one  of  the  packing 
houses  would  manifest  certain  interest 
in  hogs  when  pork  was  high,  purchasing 
over  a  short  period.  But  if  the  rancher, 
encouraged  by  this  temporary  market, 
went  into  hog  raising  probably  he  found 
that  the  market  had  vanished  when  his 
porkers  were  ready  to  sell  and  lost 
money,  and  was  laughed  at  by  his  neigh- 
bors. 

Today  there  is  an  unfailing  market  for 
hogs  in  Buenos  Aires,  and  ranchers  are 
going  into  this  line  with  pedigreed  boars 
from  the  United  States.  Credit  for  really 
establishing  the  industry  is  accorded 
Armour  &  Co.,  known  on  the  southern 
continent  as  "Frigorifico  Armour  de  la 
Plata."  This  corporation  put  solid  foun- 
dations under  the  market  by  the  simple 
device  of  buying  hogs  whenever  they 
were  offered,  regardless  of  conditions  in 
consuming  markets.     It  imported  pedi- 


ARGENTINA 


13 


greed  Duroc  Jersey  and  Poland  China 
boars  from  the  United  States,  paying 
high  prices,  taking  the  risks  of  transit 
and  selling  the  animals  to  Argentine 
ranchers  at  cost.  It  issued  hog  bulletins 
and  sent  hog  experts  to  assist  ranchers. 
Just  when  the  infant  industry  really  got 
going  Uncle  Sam  entered  the  war,  cut- 
ting down  imports  of  breeding  animals 
from  the  United  States  and  also  reduc- 
ing the  shipment  of  pork  to  Europe, 
which  demanded  beef,  beef,  beef! 


sight  and  went  through  the  packing 
houses  to  watch  their  hogs  turned  into 
pork. 

War  affected  the  consuming  end  of  the 
industry,  but  stimulated  production  on 
the  ranches.  For  Europe  wanted  wheat, 
wheat,  wheat,  and  Argentina's  corn  crop 
was  worth  next  to  nothing,  as  Europe 
lacked  ships  to  haul  it  away.  At  one 
time  corn  was  so  cheap  that  people 
burned  it  to  keep  warm,  and  it  was  used 
as  fuel  on  the  Argentine  railways.  With 
this   grain    begging   a   market   at    about 


ranch  in  the  world,  and  its  output  is 
sufficient  to  keep  a  full-size  packing 
house  in  constant  operation. 

AMERICANS  HAVE  HUGE  RANCH 

HpHE  Campion  brothers  are  Americans 
by  birth,  but  went  to  Argentina  as 
children  when  their  father,  an  Irishman, 
investigating  the  land  laws  of  the  United 
States,  Australia  and  the  Latin-Ameri- 
can countries,  decided  that  Argentina 
was  the  place  to  provide  for  a  big  fam- 
ily of  girls  and  boys.    Evidently  he  made 


AN   ARGENTINE  VOTING   BOOTH   AND   ELECTION  OFFICIALS   WITH   BALLOT   BOX    ON   TABLE 


SHIP  LACK  A  DRAWBACK 

"pVEN  now  the  shipments  of  pork  to 
Europe  and  the  United  States  are 
restricted  through  scarcity  of  shipping 
space,  and  the  meat  accumulates  and  the 
undeveloped  home  demand  in  Argentina 
does  not  take  care  of  the  supply.  Still 
Armour,  Swift  and  Wilson  continue  to 
buy  hogs,  and  in  July  Buenos  Aires  made 
a  record  of  1600  hogs  handled  in  one 
day,  where  100  would  have  been  notable 
a  few  years  ago.  Some  of  the  leading 
hog  growers  came   to  town   to  see  the 


thirty  cents  a  bushel,  the  ranchers  began 
to  turn  it  into  pork. 

Things  are  not  done  on  a  small  scale 
in  Argentine  farming.  The  American 
farmer  shipping  a  whole  carload  of  fifty 
hogs  is  a  substantial  man,  but  the  Argen- 
tine rancher  ships  hogs  in  lots  of  500  to 
1000. 

Some  idea  of  the  way  Argentina  is 
going  into  pork  is  revealed  in  details  of 
the  Campion  brothers'  estancia,  at  En- 
rique Lavelle,  a  day's  ride  from  Buenos 
Aires.    This  is  said  to  be  the  largest  hog 


a  good  selection,  for  these  two  Campion 
boys  have  on  one  ranch  nearly  3000 
acres  in  alfalfa  and  corn,  keeping  8000 
matured  Poland  China  hogs,  and  on  an- 
other estancia  a  drove  of  4000  hogs,  in 
addition  to  large  cattle-raising  activi- 
ties. 

They  ship  hogs  by  the  thousand  and 
their  breeding  and  fattening  operations 
are  timed  so  accurately  that  animals  go 
to  market  on  schedule  almost  in  the  week 
when  they  are  in  prime  condition  to  hit 
the  seasons  of  brisk  demand- 


14 


ARGENTINA 


AIRES    SUBWAY 


Last  winter  an  embargo  was  suddenly 
placed  upon  the  shipment  of  pork  prod- 
ucts to  England-  The  Campions  had  an 
enormous  drove  of  hogs  being  finished  off 
for  the  Argentine  spring  market.  When 
hogs  are  ready  for  market  they  are  ready, 
that's  all,  and  to  keep  them  past  prime 
condition  involves  heavy  extra  costs  for 
feed  and  probably  a  falling  off  in  con- 
dition. Skeptics  predicted  heavy  losses, 
saying  that  as  the  weather  grew  warm 
the  hogs  would  lose  weight,  get  sick  and 
die,  but  the  Campions  farm  with  sci- 
entific and  business  ingenuity.  They 
rigged  up  shade,  carried  their  hogs  into 
warm  weather,  kept  them  in  prime  con- 
dition and  upon  a  sudden  improvement 
in  the  market  disposed  of  their  animals 
at  a  good  profit. 

The  Campions  are  representative  of 
Argentine  enterprise  in  developing  new 
resources  of  the  republic.  What  they 
have  done  on  a  large  scale  has  also  been 
accomplished  by  other  farmers  in  a 
smaller  way.  The  work  of  such  Argen- 
tines, backed  by  the  Chicago  packers,  is 
a  splendid  instance  of  what  South  Amer- 
ica and  North  America  can  do  to  de- 
velop resources  when  they  get  together. 

This  industry  is  of  direct  interest  to 
the  American  breeder,  for  now  Argen- 
tina becomes  a  good  customer  for  our 
pure-bred  boars  and  brood  sows.  For 
many  years  the  swine  exhibited  at  the 
cattle  shows  in  Buenos  Aires  have  been 
of  very  high  grade,  yet  throughout  the 
country  only  the  Argentine  "criollo"  pig 
has  been  known — equivalent  to  our 
southern  razorback.  This  is  due  to  lack 
of  pure-bred  animals,  and  so  long  as 
pork  was  a  speculative  product  the  Ar- 
gentine farmer  found  the  razorback  good 
enough  for  home  use.  But  now  pork  is 
a  staple,  like  beef  and  wheat,  and  the 
Argentine  farmer  will  undoubtedly  buy 
the  highest  grade  of  breeding  swine  as 
he  has  bought  the  best-breeding  cattle, 
horses  and  sheep  in  building  up  his  older 
livestock  industries. 

One  distinctive  breed  of  American 
hogs,  the  Duroc  Jersey,  shows  leader- 
ship, with  the  Poland  China  in  the  Ar- 


gentine. White  hogs  are  not  favored 
because  affected  by  sunburn  during  hot 
weather.  For  that  reason  the  black 
Poland  China  holds  first  place,  as  a  black 
coat  is  one  prime  consideration  with  the 
Argentine  rancher  when  he  selects  hogs- 
But  the  Duroc  Jersey,  while  it  has  a 
blazing  red  coat,  has  been  found  immune 
to  sunburn,  is  hearty,  a  good  rustler, 
meets  packing-house  standards  and  is 
growing  so.  rapidly  in  Argentine  favor 
that  American  breeders  have  a  distinct 
advantage  in  trading  with  the  southern 
republic. 


ARTICLE  VIII 

AMERICAN  AUTOMOBILES 
SUPPLANTING  BRITISH 

gUENOS  AIRES,  Sept.  1.— An  Ar- 
gentino  went  into  the  Buenos  Aires 
salesroom  of  an  American  automobile 
concern  and,  after  looking  over  several 
cars,  said : 

"I   like   this   one — how   many   weeks 
before  you  can  make  delivery?" 


"You  can  have  it  now,"  said  the  sales- 
man. 

"What!  You  mean  that  I  can  have 
this  identical  car  today?"  exclaimed  the 
Argentino  doubtfully. 

"Yes,  this  very  car,"  said  the  sales- 
man. "You  can  drive  it  out  the  door 
there.     I  will  teach  you  to  drive." 

"Car-r-ramba!"  exclaimed  the  Argen- 
tino in  astonishment- 

Up  to  that  time  the  Argentinos  had 
been  accustomed  to  selecting  an  automo- 
bile of  European  make  by  sample  at  the 
Buenos  Aires  importers'  showroom  and 
waiting  several  months  until  the  car 
itself  could  be  shipped  from  Europe. 
When  the  Americans  came  with  a  stock 
of  cars  on  hand,  ready  to  sell  right 
over  the  counter,  and,  better  yet,  a  com- 
plete stock  of  repair  parts,  backed  by 
willing  service  when  the  car  owner  got 
into  trouble,  it  was  something  new. 

"There  is  only  one  thing  we  ask  you 
to  do,"  added  the  salesman.  "We  want 
to  see  your  car  every  two  weeks  for  the 
next  three  months  to  look  it  over  and 
make  little  adjustments." 

"Why,  is  it  going  to  break  down?"  the 
customer  asked  anxiously. 

GIVE  REPAIR  SERVICE 

"\.TOT  at  all,"  was  the  reply.  "Be- 
cause we  can  see  that  it  is  oiled  and 
greased  and  kept  in  trim  to  prevent  trou- 
ble. You  can  bring  it  around  yourself 
or  send  it  by  your  chauffeur." 

This  idea  of  inspection  service  during 
the  first  few  months  after  purchase  was 
also  new  to  the  Argentinos.  Probably 
they  forgot  their  promise  and  did  not 
bring  the  car  around.  But  the  ever- 
present  Yankee  card  system  was  on  their 
trails  nevertheless,  and  if  a  certain  car 
did  not  show  up  in  a  certain  week,  the 
owner  would  be  courteously  reminded 
over  the  telephone.  If  he  did  not  come 
then,-  the  inspector  would  turn  up  at  his 
garage. 


BUENOS  AIRES'  NEAREST  APPROACH  TO  A  SKYSCRAPER 


ARGENTINA 


15 


How  new  special  service  is  in  many 
countries  where  European  cars  have  been 
sold  is  shown  by  a  recent  suggestion  in  a 
European  export  paper.  Having  discov- 
ered that  few  cars  were  sold  in  a  certain 
country  because  trained  chauffeurs  and 
mechanics  were  scarce,  this  paper  sug- 
gested that  men  be  invited  to  come  from 
that  country  to  the  European  factory  for 
mechanical  training.  The  Yankee  idea 
of  starting  a  school  where  the  chauffeurs 
and  repair  men  were  needed  did  not  seem 
to  occur  to  the  European  automobile 
men. 

No  British  or  European  automobile 
manufacturer  has  his  own  branch  in 
Buenos  Aires — sales  are  made  entirely 
through  importers.  The  majority  of 
American  cars  are  also  sold  that  way,  but 
three  of  our  manufacturers  maintain 
their  own  branches,  with  corps  of  dealers 
throughout  the  republic — Studebaker, 
Ford  and  Case.  In  justice  to  the  import- 
ers, however,  it  should  be  added  that 
many  of  the  representatives  for  American 
cars  have  fine  showrooms,  carry  cars  and 
spare  parts  in  stock,  give  service  and 
work  hard  for  business. 

EUROPE  WON  OUT 

TT  IS  said  that  the  American  automo- 
bile started  even  with  the  European 
cars  in  Buenos  Aires,  but  that  their  uni- 
formity of  body  design,  and  also  their 
lower  prices,  enabled  European  manu- 
facturers to  secure  the  Argentinos' 
orders.  Many  Argentinos  were  visiting 
Paris,  London  and  Rome  in  those  days, 
and  the  high-priced  individual  car,  with 
its  special  custom-made  body,  appealed  to 
them.  Because  the  average  Argentina 
family  had  not  yet  dreamed  of  possessing 
such  a  magnificent  piece  of  property  as  an 
automobile,  and  also  because  demand  at 
home  took  all  their  attention,  the  Ameri- 
can manufacturers  quietly  dropped  out. 

But  during  the  war  Europe  had  no 
cars  to  ship,  and  for  three  years  our  auto- 
mobiles virtually  monopolized  the  mar- 
ket. The  average  family  began  to  be 
interested.  Where  automobiles  had  been 
confined  chiefly  to  Buenos  Aires  and  six 
or  eight  smaller  cities,  the  Argentina 
farmer  turned  to  the  automobile  as  a 
means  of  covering  distance  in  the  broad, 
thinly  settled  countryside.  Familiarity 
with  American  standard  bodies  enabled 
the  Argentino  to  see  their  utility,  as  well 
as  good  looks.  European  cars  of  five 
years  ago  were  not  stream  lined,  and 
abounded  in  fancy  brass  work,  which 
required  daily  polishing  by  the  chauffeur. 
But  the  stream  line  American  car  has  a 
beauty  of  its  own,  and  the  absence  of 
brass  work  and  corners  to  catch  dirt  ap- 
pealed to  the  Argentino  who  preferred  to 
drive  his  own  car. 

American  manufacturers  also  made 
concessions  in  cars  shipped  to  Argentina, 
finishing  them  in  special  color  schemes 
and  polishes,  while  some  of  the  Buenos 
Aires  importers  took  steps  to  provide  spe- 
cial bodies  on  standard  American  chassis. 


Henry  Ford  once  said  lightly,  when 
reproached  concerning  the  "tinny"  lines 
of  his  omnipresent  product,  "I  wouldn't 
give  five  cents  for  all  the  art  in  the 
world."  But  if  Mr.  Ford  could  see  some 
of  his  chassis  fitted  with  elegant  bodies 
in  Buenos  Aires  he  might  change  his 
mind — as  has  been  said  in  a  previous 
article,  it  is  nothing  unusual  to  see  the 
Buenos  Aires  family  arriving  at  the  opera 
in  a  Ford  with  uniformed  chauffeur  and 
footman  and  a  special  body  so  hand- 
somely designed  and  finished  that  the 
whole  outfit  looks  quite  in  the  Teatro 
Colon  picture,  apart  from  a  certain  un- 
avoidable dinkiness. 

FEW  WOMEN  DRIVE 

f")NE   OF   the   rare  sights  in   Buenos 

Aires  nowadays  is  to  see  a  woman 

driving     an     automobile — usually      the 


going  in  for  the  vote  and  playing  tennis 
and  golf  and  learning  a  new  standard  of 
life  from  American  moving  pictures.  The 
automobile  is  right  in  the  line  of  this 
development.  And  once  they  learn  the 
pleasures  of  driving  there  will  probably 
be  no  holding  them  back. 

An  American  automobile  was  sold  to 
a  millionaire  in  one  of  the  smaller  Argen- 
tina cities.  Being  lighter  and  easier  to 
handle  than  the  big  European  car  which 
it  displaced,  the  millionaire's  daughter 
was  fascinated,  and  asked  if  she  might 
sit  at  the  wheel.  The  salesman  gave  her 
a  lesson  in  driving,  with  father  and 
mother  chaperoning. 

"I'm  going  to  learn  to  drive  that  car, 
and  then  take  lessons  in  repairs,  take  out 
a  license  and  we'll  discharge  the  chauf- 


WHOLESALE     SHOWROOM     IX    BUENOS    AIRES   OF    A    CHICAGO    CORSET    MANUFACTURER. 
THE  RIGHT  WAY  TO  BUILD  WORLD  TRADE    IN'    AMERICAN    SPECIALTIES 


chauffeur  sits  beside  her  and  everybody 
turns  to  look.  In  the  country  women  are 
learning  to  drive  with  greater  freedom. 
It  is  the  American  motor  salesman  who 
has  started  this  revolution.  And  it  is  a 
revolution,  because  the  average  Argen- 
tino himself  has  yet  to  learn  the  pleas- 
ures of  driving  his  own  car  and  keeping 
it  in  repair,  without  a  chauffeur.  Where 
he  can  be  persuaded  to  learn  driving  at 
all  probably  he  carries  the  chauffeur  to 
do  any  dirty  work,  because  he  does  not 
like  to  soil  his  hands. 

"Some  of  the  Argentina  men  take  bet- 
ter care  of  their  good  looks  than  do  our 
American  women,"  said  a  Yankee  motor 
salesman. 

But  Argentina  women  are  rapidly  be- 
coming keen  about  sports  and  politics  and 
greater    freedom   generally      They    are 


feur!"    declared    spirited    Miss    Young 
South  America. 

FARMERS  NEED  AUTOS 

HPHE  great  market  for  American  auto- 
mobiles in  Argentina  is  undoubtedly 
in  the  country  districts.  For  one  thing, 
the  country  districts  have  remained 
almost  untouched  until  now  in  the  mat- 
ter of  motor  transport,  and  for  another 
the  American  car,  designed  with  an  ex- 
cess of  power  for  going  over  rough  coun- 
try and  bad  roads,  has  manifest  advan- 
tages over  the  European  car,  which  is 
designed  for  economcial  fuel  consump- 
tion on  smooth  pavements  and  highways. 
American  manufacturers  can  sell  high- 
price  cars  in  the  cities,  but  there  will  be 
competition  with  European  makers  when 
conditions  again  become  normal,  and  the 
opportunities  for  increasing  sales  are  not 


16 

so  great.  In  the  country,  however,  the 
sale  of  a  light,  cheap  American  car  to  the 
estanciero  starts  a  whole  cycle  of  possible 
development.  After  he  has  had  his  car 
a  few  weeks  he  becomes  interested  in  bet- 
ter roads.  Probably  most  of  the  roads 
he  uses  are  over  his  own  land,  and  he  is 
not  only  free  to  improve  them  himself, 
but  if  he  doesn't  nobody  else  will!  So 
he  fills  up  some  mud  holes,  lets  his  super- 
intendent have  the  little  car  to  push  along 
farm  work,  and  buys  a  better  American 
car.  By  this  time  his  neighbors  are 
watching  and  perhaps  he  not  only  gives 
them  rides  and  explains  the  advantages 
of  the  automobile,  but  becomes  local 
agent  for  the  manufacturer.  It  is  easy 
to  look  ahead  and  see  a  time,  maybe  not 
far  distant,  when  there  will  be  good  road 
sentiment,  followed  by  highway  construc- 
tion, and  then  the  motortruck  for  freight- 
ing produce  to  market.  In  between  there 
is  the  market  for  farm  tractors  to  be  de- 
veloped. Because  gasoline  is  high  but 
horses  are  cheap  in  Argentina,  the  Ameri- 
can farm  tractor  has  obstacles  ahead,  but 
it  can  be  introduced  through  sales  of 
automobiles  and  motortrucks  in  country 
districts. 

The  Yankee  motor  salesman  is  also  a 
missionary  for  good  roads  and  the 
general  improvement  of  living  conditions 
in  the  Argentina  "campo."  Let  this  be 
illustrated  with  an  incident: 

Riding  on  the  railroad,  an  American 
automobile  representative  got  into  con- 
versation with  an  Argentino,  who  said 
that  he  owned  a  car,  but  it  was  out  of 
commission  then  by  reason  of  the  bad 
winter  roads. 

"Who  takes  care  of  the  roads  in  your 
neighborhood?"  asked  the  Yankee. 

"I  do,"  replied  the  Argentino.  "They 
all  run  through  my  land." 

"Why  don't  you  make  yourself  a  King 
drag,  and  lick  those  dirt  roads  into 
shape?"  suggested  the  Yankee. 

THE  "KING  DRAG" 

"A  KING  drag?  What's  that?"  in- 
quired the  Argentino.  Whereupon 
the  Yankee  drew  a  diagram  of  this  split 
log  device,  which  is  dragged  over  many 
of  our  dirt  roads  after  each  rain  and  gives 
them  a  water  shedding  surface.  He  told 
him  how  storekeepers  in  many  western 
states  offer  prizes  to  the  first  man  or 
woman,  boy  or  girl  who  reaches  town 
on  a  rainy  day  riding  a  King  drag-  And 
the  Argentino  was  enthusiastic. 

"That's  a  new  idea  to  me,"  he  said. 
"When  I  get  home  we'll  have  one  made 
and  try  it  out." 

Out  of  this  conversation  the  automo- 
bile man  got  almost  as  good  a  suggestion 
himself.  Scattered  over  the  Argentina 
provinces  he  had  100  local  representa- 
tives, many  of  them  farmers.  When 
they  came  to  the  next  cattle  show  in 
Buenos  Aires  he  gave  them  a  dinner,  ex- 
plained the  King  drag,  asked  each  man  to 
go  home  and  make  one  and  demonstrate 


ARGENTINA 


it,  and  thus  encourage  practical  good  road 
sentiment  in  his  neighborhood. 

Because  Argentina  must  soon  be  going 
through  a  rural  development  correspond- 
ing to  that  through  which  we  have  passed 
the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years,  there  are  un- 
doubtedly many  practical  devices  of  the 
same  sort  which  we  can  hand  on  a  plat- 
ter— and  the  Yankee  automobile  man  is 
just  the  fellow  to  pass  the  platter! 


ARTICLE  IX 


CONSULT  WIFE,  THEN  SEND 
MAN  TO  LATIN  AMERICA 

DUENOS    AIRES,    Sept.    4.— When 

your  Buenos  Aires  orders  grew  so 
that  you  decided  to  open  a  branch  in 
Argentina,  Charlie  Foster  was  the  logi- 
cal man  for  manager.  With  the  "pep" 
of  the  twenties  and  the  experience  of  the 
thirties,  a  born  salesman,  yet  developing 
executive  ability,  the  choice  was  almost 
inevitable.  So  you  told  Foster  and  he 
began  studying  Spanish,  and-  presently 
was  off  south. 

Or  maybe  your  Buenos  Aires  branch 
long  ago  developed  into  a  factory  and 
war  put  kinks  into  processes  and  you 
told  Tom  Burley  to  go  down  there  and 
straighten  things  out  if  he  had  to  stay 
three  years.  Tom  is  easily  your  best 
production  man. 

A  straight  line  in  thinking  and  promo- 
tion that  usually  works  at  home. 

But  see  what  may  happen  when  ap- 
plied to  Buenos  Aires: 

Tom  Burley  has  a  wife.  She  never 
has  been  500  miles  from  Smithville.  They 
have  their  little  home  near  the  factory, 
and  Mrs.  Burley  not  only  does  most  of 
the  cooking  and  housework,  too,  but 
finds  expression  through  her  cooking.  She 
has  her  relatives,  her  friends,  her  church 
societies — a  woman  busy  and  happy  in  a 
circle  that  is  narrow,  but  complete  and, 
oh!  so  comfortable. 

MISSES  HOME  AND  FRIENDS 

CEND  Tom  Burley  to  Buenos  Aires  for 
three  years  and  Mrs.  Burley  must  go 
along,  of  course.  But  pick  Mrs.  Burley 
up  and  ship  her  south  on  a  British  liner 
and  various  things  happen.  Sometimes 
she  misses  her  house  and  relatives  and 
friends  and  wants  to  go  back  immediately 
with  a  longing  that  is  as  deep  as  it  is  awk- 
ward. Maybe  a  streak  of  vanity  develops 
when  she  finds  herself  waited  upon  by  a 
table  steward,  a  cabin  steward,  a  bath 
steward,  a  deck  steward,  a  stewardess,  so 
that  by  the  time  Tom  reaches  Buenos 
Aires    trained     English     servants    have 


deluded    her    into    thinking   that   she   is 
really  Somebody. 

Arriving  in  Buenos  Aires,  or  Cape 
Town,  or  Hongkong,  or  wherever  it  may 
be,  she  will  consider  it  outrageous  that 
there  are  no  American  restaurants  or 
cooking,  and  long  for  waffles  and  maple 
syrup !  Settled  in  a  foreign  house,  with 
strange  servants  cooking  over  a  handful 
of  charcoal,  she  wants  to  know  when 
they  are  going  back  to  "God's  country." 
Or  maybe  she  is  a  frivolous  kind,  and, 
caught  by  the  surface  life  of  a  foreign 
capital,  begins  spending  money  without 
knowledge  of  its  value — it  takes  a  long 
while  to  realize  that  the  queer  little  for- 
eign currencies  are  real  money — the  notes 
look  so  much  like  tobacco  coupons. 

WIFE  BECOMES  FAULT-FINDING 

HPOM   goes  into  the  factory,   and  his 

wife  seeks  the  American  colony. 
Tom  gets  along  well  because  he  knows 
nothing  of  caste  and  deals  fairly  with  the 
people  who  work  for  him.  But  Mrs. 
Burley  finds  women  like  herself,  who 
want  to  go  home,  home,  home!  And  they 
spend  most  of  their  time  together  telling 
each  other  how  dreadful  "these  people" 
are,  instead  of  learning  a  little  of  the  lan- 
guage and  associating  with  "these  peo- 
ple." Presently  something  begins  to  pull 
down  on  Tom  Burley,  and  that  some- 
thing is  a  narrow-minded,  fault-finding 
wife. 

How  long  should  Tom  Burley  stay  in 
foreign  parts? 

If  it  were  possible  to  measure  his  wife 
beforehand,  by  some  Bertillon  system 
of  gauging  temperament,  he  never  would 
be  sent  abroad  at  all — unless  alone. 

Maybe  Charlie  Foster's  wife  is  differ- 
ent. Living  in  cities  and  traveling  at 
times  with  her  husband,  she  has  learned 
to  like  novelty,  and  is  Bohemian.  Her 
first  weeks  in  Buenos  Aires  are  a  delight, 
with  people,  ways,  dishes  and  amuse- 
ments absolutely  new.  She  mingles  with 
the  people,  begins  studying  the  language, 
and  looks  forward  to  a  five-year  stay. 
Sooner  or  later,  however,  she  drops  into 
the  American  colony,  occasionally  and 
then  oftener.  Ways  in  which  "these  peo- 
ple" differ  from  those  in  "God's  coun- 
try" are  discussed,  at  first  to  her  amuse- 
ment, but  before  long  carpingly,  and 
unless  Mrs.  Foster  is  a  very  broad 
woman  indeed,  the  downward  pull  will 
involve  her,  too,  and  through  her  your 
branch  manager. 

How  long  a  Yankee  should  stay  abroad 
in  world  trade  is  determined  by  the 
Yankee's  wife,  eight  times  in  ten.  Ameri- 
cans abroad  tend  to  herd  in  colonies — as 
do  Britons  and  Spaniards  and  all  nation- 
alities. 

The  gossip  of  a  foreign  colony  any- 
where is  very  damaging,  and  a  Yankee 
must  be  very  much  absorbed  in  his  work 
indeed  to  withstand  its  influence,  or  must 
send  friend  wife  home  to  her  mother. 
Fortunately,  there  is  another  kind  of 


ARGENTINA 


17 


American  wife  with  whom  a  Tom  Bur- 
ley,  happy  in  his  work,  can  live  abroad 
indefinitely. 

A  factory  superintendent's  wife  was 
set  down  in  a  small  foreign  town  to 
live  in  a  cottage  provided  by  the  com- 
pany. It  had  no  heat,  no  kitchen  in  the 
American  sense,  no  comforts  of  the  kind ' 
she  had  known  at  home.  But  she  was  a 
partner  as  well  as  a  wife,  and,  fortu- 
nately, this  strange  new  home  was  far 
from  the  American  colony.  She  got  in 
an  American  stove,  cooking  utensils  and 
kitchen  cabinet,  learned  the  language  of 
her  servants,  taught  them  to  cook  Ameri- 
can dishes.  She  threw  out  the  jiggly  or- 
namental furniture  and  replaced  it  with 
wicker  and  solid  mission  stuff.  She  got 
a  mason  and  improvised  a  fireplace,  and 
kept  sleeping  rooms  warm  with  kerosene 
stoves.  When  her  husband  came  home 
at    night    he    step- 


Strictly  from  a  business  standpoint 
there  is  no  limit  to  this  corporation  man's 
stay  abroad — every  year  that  he  lives  in 
that  capital  brings  its  increase  of  turn- 
over and  reputation  to  the  company  and 
himself.  And  there  is  no  limit  to  his 
wife's  ability  to  stay — every  year  makes 
her  life  there  richer  and  broader. 

How  long  a  Yankee  should  stay 
abroad  depends  partly  on  himself,  even 
though  he  may  be  unmarried.  There  is 
a  dissatisfied  type  among  men  no  less 
than  women — the  fellow  who  instinc- 
tively gravitates  to  the  American  colony, 
falls  into  gossiping  about  "these  people" 
and  longs  for  home.  If  he  comes  back 
on  the  next  boat,  so  much  the  better  for 
himself,  and  his  house,  and  the  country  to 
which  he  was  sent  and  American  trade 
and  prestige  generally.  But,  fortunately, 
this  type  is  offset  by  the  fellow  who  goes 


back  home-  In  still  other  cases  world 
business  hinges  upon  a  first-rate  executive 
capable  of  living  abroad  the  major  part 
of  his  business  life. 

Cut  and  try,  cut  and  try,  and  cut  and 
try  again,  is  the  rule  in  building  our  most 
efficient  business  organizations  at  home. 

To  cut  and  try  repeatedly,  with  per- 
sistence, patience,  intelligence  and  in- 
genuity, is  even  more  necessary  in  world 
trade  organization. 


ARTICLE  X 


a    little 
"God's 


ped    into 

corner    of 

country." 

CAN  BE  REAL 
HELPER 

AND  there  is  an- 
other kind  of 
Mrs.    Charlie 
Foster. 

Four  years  ago 
the  contracts  sev 
cured  by  a  large 
American  corpora- 
tion in  one  of  the 
Latin  -  American 
republics  became  so 
numerous  that  a 
branch  was  opened 
in  charge  of  the 
vice  president  him- 
self. Living  well  at 
home,  and  active  in 
social  affairs,  this 
Yankee's  wife,  set 
down  in  a  Latin- 
American  capital, 
immediately   began 

to  deal  with  people  as  she  had  done  at 
home.  There  was  an  American  colony 
as  usual,  made  up  of  women  who  would 
not  "bone"  over  a  Spanish  first  reader  or 
learn  unfamiliar  usages  and  conventions, 
yet  who  wondered  why  they  never  got 
into  the  home  life  of  that  capital.  Why 
they  didn't  will  be  clear  to  anybody  who 
ever  has  spent  an  evening  with  a  person 
lacking  a  common  language.  This 
woman  learned  the  language — not  a  few- 
hundred  words  and  phrases,  but  gram- 
mar, and  pronunciation,  and  the  nice 
slang  and  finer  shades  of  meaning.  She 
took  a  house  in  the  fine  residence  quar- 
ter, miles  from  the  American  colony,  and 
entertained,  and  stood  with  the  people 
of  that  city,  like  her  husband,  for  a  thor- 
oughbred American  who  enjoyed  the  best 
another  country  had  to  give  in  people 
and  life,  and  worthily  represented  the 
best  in  American  life  by  way  of  return. 


BUENOS    AIRES    AUTOMOBILE    SHOW    FEATURED    BY    AMERICAN    CARS 


'abroad  enthusiastically,  prepared  to  like 
the  country  and  the  people,  and  mingle 
with  them,  and  enjoy  their  very  differ- 
ences, and  stay  indefinitely.  In  between 
there  is  still  another  chap  who  can  stay 
two  or  three  or  five  years,  profit  by  his 
experience,  and  then  return  home  to  be- 
come an  invaluable  man. 

Length  of  stay  likewise  depends  upon 
the  nature  of  the  business.  In  some  lines 
the  American  sent  abroad  is  at  his  best 
on  comparatively  short  trips  from  coun- 
try to  country,  visiting  branch  managers 
and  representatives  on  the  spot.  In  other 
cases  world  trade  runs  to  organizations 
abroad  made  up  partly  of  Americans  and 
partly  of  employes  drawn  from  the  coun- 
try, and  the  organization  thrives  best 
where  a  constant  succession  of  fresh 
Yankees  are  sent  for  periods  of  two  or 
three  years,  stimulating  the  organization 
board,  and  bringing  valuable  experience 


SOUTH  AMERICA  GETS  U.  S. 
CAPITAL  VIA  EUROPE 

gUENOS  AIRES,  Sept.  6.— A  good 
deal  of  the  "foreign"  capital  soon  to 
pour  into  Argentina,  and  Latin  America 
generally,    for   the   development   of   re- 
sources  and    trade 
will    be   American 
capital    in    reality, 
it  is  said.     For  the 
enterprise        pro- 
moted and  financed 
in   London,    Paris, 
Antwerp  or  Rome 
will  often  be  car- 
ried   out    with 
money  borrowed  in 
New         York. 
Therefore,     it     is 
suggested  that  our 
bankers,  in  making 
loans,  might  intro- 
duce   a    "favored- 
nation"  clause  into 
contracts,     specify- 
ing    that     when 
equipment   or   ma- 
terials  are   bought 
for  the  Argentine 
enterprise  our 
manufacturers     be 
given     the     oppor- 
tunity  to   bid   and 
be    awarded    the 
contract    if    our    prices    are  favorable. 
Otherwise  much  of  the  purchasing  may 
be  done  in  the  countries  promoting  the 
enterprise    with    American    money,    re- 
gardless of  price. 

When  Buenos  Aires  has  an  illumina- 
tion— and  it  does  frequently  to  celebrate 
holidays- — small  electric  lamps  are  placed 
in  patterns  outlining  public  buildings  and 
cumbersome  ornamental  lights  hung 
along  the  Avenida  de  Mayo.  Outline 
lighting  with  ordinary  incandescent 
lamps  is  even  carried  to  the  grass  plots  in 
the  plazas. 

CHANCE  IN  ELECTRICAL  FIELD 

HpHERE  would  seem  to  be  an  excellent 
chance  for  our  electrical  companies 
to  sell  the  idea  of  flood  lighting,  and  the 
equipment  along  with  it — effects  like 
those  developed  at  the  San  Francisco  ex- 
position, whereby  low-power  searchlights 


II 


ARGENTINA 


bathe  buildings,  monuments  and  whole 
streets  in  light,  and  by  color  combinations 
it  is  possible  to  get  many  different  effects. 
A  good  beginning  could  be  made  by  flood 
lighting  some  of  Buenos  Aires'  beautiful 
fountains. 

In  Argentina,  like  most  countries  ex- 
cept our  own,  with  its  "match  trust," 
matches  are  expensive  and  regarded  with 
a  wholly  unnecessary  reverence.  The 
only  kind  purchasable  are  the  tiny  wax 
vestas,  British  style,  at  two  and  a  half 
cents  for  a  box  of  about  forty,  with  oc- 
casionally some  safety  matches  of   war 


.NEED  BETTER  CORN 

HPHE  Argentine  farmer  raises  fifty  and 
one  hundred  bushels  of  corn  to  the 
acre,  and  sometimes  boils  a  few  ears  of 
flint  or  dent  for  the  table  when  tender, 
but  does  not  know  real  sweet  corn  in 
its  many  fine  varieties.  The  Buenos 
Aires  seedsmen  from  whom  he  buys  gar- 
den seed  may  list  one  or  two  varieties, 
not  the  best  to  begin  with,  and  run  down 
through  lack  of  skillful  seed  selection. 
The  use  of  specialties  and'  novelties  in 
garden  seed,  which  is  the  life  of  our  own 
seed  trade,  seems  to  be  unknown. 

If  American  seed  concerns  could  make 


tion  given  is  that  most  of  the  varieties 
tried  have  proved  unsuitable,  being  im- 
ported from  Europe,  particularly  the 
southern  European  countries,  from  which 
Buenos  Aires  seed  and  plant  importers 
come  themselves.  Apples  can  unques- 
tionably be  raised  in  suitable  sections  of 
Argentina  with  and  without  irrigation. 
Out  of  our  own  wide  variety  of  apples, 
as  well  as  our  horticultural  experience, 
we  could  supply  just  what  is  needed  for 
a  given  section,  soil  or  market.  There  is 
evidently  opportunity  to  do  business  with 
Argentina  in  American  nursery  stock, 
and  perhaps  to  establish  branch  nurser- 
ies in  the  republic  itself. 


quality,  of  which  three  or  four  must  be 
struck  to  get  a  light. 

The  idea  of  a  whole  box  of  honest-to- 
goodness  bird's-eyes,  500  of  them,  for  a 
dime  or  so,  is  strange.  But  why  should 
it  be  so?  The  Argentine  Government 
claps  a  tax  of  half  a  cent  on  each  tiny 
box  of  vestas,  but  does  not  make  matches 
a  government  monopoly  as  in  some  coun- 
tries. Evidently  there  is  an  opportunity 
to  sell  Argentina  either  American 
matches  or  American  match-making  ma- 
chinery— the  vestas  are  made  in  the  re- 
public from  imported  materials. 


PARADE  OF  WEST  POIXTERS  OP  ARGEXTIXA 

arrangements  to  send  small  parcels  of 
seeds  to  Argentine  customers,  passing  the 
quarantine  inspection  at  the  customs 
house,  or,  better  yet,  fill  orders  from 
stocks  carried  in  Buenos  Aires,  such 
toothsome  specialties  as  Golden  Bantam 
and  Country  Gentleman  sugar  corn 
would  quickly  create  good  will  among 
the  Argentinos  and  make  a  reputation 
for  American  seeds  such  as  they  enjoy  in 
India  and  other  parts  of  the  world- 

As  with  garden  seeds,  so  with  fruit 
trees.  Red  apples  from  Oregon  are  sold 
in  Buenos  Aires  at  fifty  cents  apiece  be- 
cause Argentina  has  not  yet  developed  an 
;:pple-grovving   industry.      The   explana- 


MUSIC  OF  THEIR  OWN 

HPHE  Argentine  tango,  as  written,  is  a 
simple  melody  into  which  the  per- 
former introduces  most  of  the  rhythm. 
When  our  player-piano  industry  found 
customers  in  the  republic  the  latest  tan- 
goes were  sent  to  the  United  States  to  be 
cut  in  perforated  rolls.  We  cut  them 
just  as  they  were  written  and  sent  them 
back,  perhaps  with  our  own  suggestions 
as  to  rhythm  and  time.  When  the  Ar- 
gentine purchaser  tried  these  rolls  on  his 
player-piano  he  asked,  in  bewilderment, 
"What  is  it?"  Now  the  latest  tangoes 
are  cut  in  Buenos  Aires. 

A   native   composer   takes   the   simple 


ARGENTINA 


19 


CALLE     FLORIDA. 


FASHIONABLE     AVENUE 
STREETS    IN    OLD 


OF   BUENOS   AIRES. 
SPANISH    QUARTER 


EXAMPLE   OF   NARROW 


melody,  makes  a  completely  new  arrange- 
ment of  harmony,  rhythm  and  time  and 
produces  a  roll  that  is  the  true  tango. 
Which  is  just  as  it  should  be,  and  there 
is  nothing  to  add  except  this — that  while 
the  Yankee  in  Buenos  Aires  soon  grows 
very  partial  indeed  to  the  true  tango,  and 
the  Yankee  at  home  would  like  it,  too, 
the  Argentino-cut  tango  rolls  are  not 
purchasable  in  the  United  States.  This 
is  also  true  of  Argentine  tangoes  repro- 
duced for  the  phonograph  in  Buenos 
Aires. 

Buenos  Aires  theatrical  managers 
scout  for  vaudeville  talent  in  New  York, 
and  a  Friar  or  a  Lamb  is  likely  to  meet 
a  "show  shop"  friend  on  any  corner  of 
the  Avenida  de  Mayo.  New  York  might 
well  go  scouting  in  Buenos  Aires'  many 
small  theatres  for  talent  peculiar  to  the 
country  and  new  to  our  own  theatre  audi- 
ences. One  of  the  big  successes  of  the 
Argentine  capital  last  winter  was  a  trio 
of  male  singers  performing  gaucho  songs 
to  guitar  accompaniment. 

These  songs  of  the  people,  often  old 
and  rich  in  native  poetry,  were  rendered 
with  a  singing  art  that  made  them  quite 
independent  of  language — they  are  in 
Spanish,  of  course.  The  tango  orches- 
tras of  Buenos  Aires  restaurants  are  as 
distinct  in  their  way  as  the  Hawaiian  and 
marimba  orchestras  which  have  been  suc- 
cessful in  our  theatres  the  last  few  vears. 
Good  theatrical  scouting  during  a  Buenos 
Aires  winter  would  not  only  reveal  nov- 
elties, but  bring  Argentina  closer  to  the 
American  public.  Buenos  Aires'  taste 
in  opera  has  led  to  the  discovery  of  fa- 
mous singers  who  later  made  successes  in 
New  York.  Its  taste  in  other  lines  may 
be  trusted. 


HELP  FOR  MILLIONAIRES 

ARGENTINA  needs  somebody  to 
teach  her  many  millionaires  how  to 
give  money  away  constructively.  More 
than  one  American  college  and  institu- 
tion has  its  teacher  in  constructive  phil- 
anthropy who  calls  upon  our  own  mil- 
lionaires. "How  much  money  do  you 
want  today?"  the  latter  ask,  nervously, 
when  they  receive  him.  "None  at  all," 
is  the  reply;  "I'm  here  now  to  find  out 
your  interests  and  later  we  will  make  a 
definite  request." 

Some  weeks  after,  perhaps,  the  college 
finds  that  it  can  enlarge  a  certain  depart- 
ment, giving  tuition  to  500  additional 
students  for  $50,000.  Then  the  teacher- 
canvasser  returns  to  his  millionaire,  ex- 


plaining the  plan  and  saying,  "We'd  like 
to  have  you  give  the  money,  but  we  want 
you  as  well — want  your  friendly  interest 
and  guidance  in  teaching  these  500  young 
people."  Argentina  millionaires  are  gen- 
erous, but  not  as  imaginative  as  they 
might  be.  Argentina  needs  a  big  engi- 
neering institute.  She  needs  "fresh- 
water" colleges  to  offset  her  government 
university,  fine  as  it  is.  She  needs  edu- 
cational projects,  housing  projects,  health 
projects  and  many  other  things  of  the 
sort  that  our  millionaires  are  inter- 
ested in. 

Apart  from  ranching,  racing,  travel, 
society  and  the  opera,  it  is  said  the  aver- 
age Argentine  millionaire  has  few  out- 
lets for  his  money,  time  and  ability.  A 
Buenos  Aires  night  course  for  million- 
aires in  constructive  giving  and  human 
service  might  be  well  attended ! 

SPANISH  LABELS  NEEDED 

CEVERAL  hundred  American  business 
concerns  now  market  their  products 
in  Argentina  and  Latin  America  gener- 
ally. There  must  be  thousands  of  Amer- 
ican consumer  articles  in  growing  de- 
mand. Yet  only  once  in  three  times  do 
labels,  boxes,  wrappers  and  printed  lit- 
erature bear  any  information  in  Spanish. 
Where  the  American  manufacturer  packs 
specially  for  the  southern  continent  he 
usually  has  a  circular  in  Spanish  or  Por- 
tuguese, and  it  is  as  well  gotten  up  as 
similar  literature  in  English. 

But  if  no  effort  is  made  along  this  line, 
then  the  product  circulates  in  South 
America  with  its  North  American  lan- 
guage and  appeal.  That  is,  it  circulates 
against  every  disadvantage.  Possible  cus- 
tomers cannot  find  out  the  nice  points 
in  quality  or  use.  They  can  learn  noth- 
ing of  the  concern  that  makes  the  stuff 
and  they  know  nothing  about  other  prod- 
ucts that  it  makes. 


THE  AVENIDA  DE  MAYO  WHICH  SHOWED  BUENOS  AIRES  HOW  TO  OPEN  UP  NARROW 
STREETS  TO  MODERN  TRAFFIC 


20 


ARGENTINA 


If  the  product  has  just  begun  to  make 
a  Latin-American  demand  for  itself, 
through  an  order  for  a  gross  or  two, 
placed  by  a  retailer  catering  to  people  in 
the  American  colony,  and  Latin  Ameri- 
cans try  it  on  recommendation  of  Ameri- 
can friends,  the  absence  of  printed  infor- 
mation in  their  own  language  may  check 
what  might  otherwise  be  a  growing  de- 
mand— slow,  perhaps,  but  sure.  If  your 
products  go  to  the  southern  continent 
even  in  dozen  lots,  on  freak  orders,  it 
will  pay  to  take  the  trouble  to  include 
some  information  in  the  languages  of 
those  countries,  however  brief. 

It  will  pay  even  better  to  remember 
that  there  are  only  two  continents  in  the 
world  largely  dominated  by  a  single  lan- 
guage, one  being  our  own  and  the  other 
South  America,  and  that  consumer  goods 
may  turn  up  anywhere  nowadays,  with 
the  world  ramifications  of  trade,  and  to 
make  certain  that  any  single  unit  in  your 
production  that  happens  to  turn  up  in  a 
Spanish-speaking  country  will,  by  the  in- 
clusion of  suitable  matter  on  labels  or 
circulars,  be  capable  of  speaking  for  itself 
in  the  language  of  the  people. 

INTRODUCING  BASEBALL 

ONE  of  the  best  psychological  exports 
^\vc  can  make  to  Argentina  just  now 
is  American  baseball.  A  generation  ago 
Argentinos  did  not  know  the  word 
"sports,"  but  today  the  word  is  part  of 
their  language,  and  the  thing  itself  is 
also  represented  in  their  daily  papers  by 
football,  tennis,  track  and  other  sport- 
ing records. 

Rugby  football  is  popular  and  reflects 
Argentino  admiration  for  the  British. 
Baseball  would  undoubtedly  become  as 
popular  as  in  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  if 
demonstrated  regularly  over  a  period  of 
a  few  years.  A  decided  uplift  was  given 
the  national  game  in  Argentina  when  our 
warships  touched  there  and  teams  of  sail- 
ors went  ashore  to 
play  teams  from 
the  American 
packing  houses. 
That  led  to  the 
organization  of  a 
packing  -  house 
league,  and  now 
the  young  Argen- 
tino has  become 
sufficiently  familiar 
with  the  game  to 
like  its  speed  and 
action  and  sit  on 
the  fence  and  root. 

Some  day  he 
will  take  a  hand  in 
it  himself.  I  n 
the  meantime, 
when  you  select 
that  branch  man- 
ager or  production 
man  for  Argentina, 


IWr"' /* 

£ 

y^^j 

after  being  certain  that  he  knows  Span- 
ish, find  out  if  he  pitches  or  plays  a  good 
shortstop. 


ARTICLE  XI 


AMERICAN  TRADE  MENACED 
BY  GERMAN  COMPETITION 

J3UENOS  AIRES,  Sept.  10.— On  the 
morning  the  peace  treaty  was  signed 
a  German  salesman  in  Buenos  Aires, 
who  had  been  drawing  his  salary  since 
August  1,  1914,  started  out  to  call  upon 
former  customers  of  his  house  with  his 
1914  samples.  His  goods  are  a  line  in 
which  Germany  excelled  before  the  war. 
and  they  led  the  Argentine  market  in 
reputation  and  sales.  He  offered  to  fill 
uncompleted  orders  of  1914  within  three 
months  at  a  substantial  advance  over 
1914  prices,  but  decidedly  below  current 
prices  of  American  goods,  which  dur- 
ing the  last  three  years  have  gained  a  firm 
foothold  in  Argentina. 

An  American  house  in  this  same  line 
has  its  representative  in  Buenos  Aires. 
Some  of  the  largest  Argentina  importers 
are  German  in  origin  and  sympathies. 
When  the  American  salesman  came 
around  they  told  him  that  his  prices  were 
now  too  high,  because  they  could  obtain 
goods  from  Germany  almost  as  soon  as 
new  orders  could  be  shipped  from  the 
United  States.  The  American  cabled 
this  information  to  his  house,  and  was 
told  that  prices  were  more  likely  to  be 
advanced  than  reduced. 


:r  lake  in  one  of  BUENOS  AIRES'  public  parks 


TEUTONS  RUSH  TO  ARGENTINA 

"PHAT  took  several  days.  When  the 
American  salesman  called  upon  his 
Argentine  customers  again  and  told  them 
his  prices  might  advance  they  promptly 
placed  orders  for  German  goods! 

At  this  writing  the  German  is  cer- 
tainly active  in  Argentina.  He  has  been 
there  all  through  the  war.  To  be  sure, 
one  seldom  met  a  German  after  the  first 
year  of  hostilities,  when  real  war  issues 
emerged — sometimes  he  took  advantage 
of  Argentine  birth  and  honestly  became 
a  "porteno,"  and  again  was  of  neutral 
nationality,  carefully  explaining  to  ac- 
count for  his  accent.  But  he  has  been 
on  the  spot  and  on  the  job,  with  his 
money  drawn  out  of  world  trade  for  the 
time  being  and  very  often  invested  in 
Latin-American  government  securities. 

Moreover,  new  Germans  are  arriving 
now  with  every  steamer  available  from 
neutral  European  ports. 

German  goods  are  also  arriving,  and 
Argentine  business  houses  backed  by 
German  representatives  skillfully  make 
use  of  that  fact  when  they  dicker  with 
salesmen  of  other  nationalities. 

But,  while  the  Germans  may  even- 
tually "come  back"  in  Latin-American 
markets  and  are  already  making  deter- 
mined efforts  to  do  so,  there  are  certain 
indications  that  the  way  must  be  long 
and  hard  for  them  and  that  their  day  has 
not  yet  arrived. 

OLD  STUFF  OFFERED 

OfHEN  one  of  the  first  German  ship- 
ments reached  Buenos  Aires  Argen- 
tine buyers  were  told  that  500  tons  had 
arrived.      This    shipment    was    cutlery, 
much  needed  in  Argentina  just  then,  and 
in  many  lines  of  which  German  houses 
had    maintained    superiority    over    both 
British  and  American  goods.     Investiga- 
tion   at   the    Customs    House   disclosed, 
however,  that  the  shipment  consisted  of 
only   twenty-four   cases,    and   when   the 
goods     were     u  n- 
packed    and    ex- 
amined  it  was  de- 
clared   by    experts 
that  they  were  of 
pre-war    manufac- 
ture  and   had    un- 
questionably    been 
held     in     anticipa- 
tion  of    peace    for 
skillful    use    in    a 
fresh     invasion    of 
neutral  markets. 

With  even  such 
a  slender  stack  of 
pre-war  chips  the 
German  re-enters 
the  game  and  bids 
boldly.  As  manu- 
facturing costs 
upon  such  small 
quantities  of  mer- 
chandise      mean 


ARGENTINA 


21 


nothing  to  him,  he  sells  at  1914  prices, 
with  two  objectives:  First,  to  secure 
orders  for  new  merchandise  as  soon  as 
it  can  be  manufactured  in  the  fatherland, 
and,  second,  to  upset  his  competitors' 
market  by  causing  buyers  to  hesitate  be- 
fore ordering. 

After  the  armistice,  merchants  in  the 
United  States  withheld  orders  for  mer- 
chandise in  the  belief  that  prices  would 
come  down.  Six  months  of  uncertainty 
and  dickering  demonstrated  that  prices 
were  more  likely  to  advance  than  come 
down  in  most  lines,  and  that  withholding 
of  orders  simply  put  buyers  at  a  disad- 
vantage when  purchasing  was  resumed  in 
a  broad  way.  As  this  article  is  written, 
representatives  of  American  houses  in 
Buenos  Aires  are  receiving  cable  an- 
nouncements of  advancing  prices  almost 
daily.  At  the  same  time  the  Argentine 
buyer  seems  to  be  going  through  some 
such  psychological  experience  as  our  own 
buyers  after  the  armistice.  He  believes 
that  prices  ought  to  come  down,  and, 
therefore,  withholds  large  orders. 

ARGENTINOS  WAITING 

UIS  purchases  are  made  as  nearly  from 
day  to  day  as  is  possible  at  a  dis1 
tance  of  8000  miles  from  manufacturing 
centers,  and  he  waits  for  the  situation  to 
clear  up  definitely  before  laying  in  nor- 
mal stocks  and  going  after  business  in 
an  aggressive  way.  When  the  German 
representative  appears  with  his  little 
stack  of  chips  and  his  bold  bluff,  nat- 
urally it  has  its  effect. 

There  is  something  significant  and 
illuminating  in  this.  When  he  approaches 
the  Argentine  buyer  with  uncertainty  as 
a  commodity  rather  than  merchandise, 
he  is  truly  marketing  the  leading  product 
of  Germany  itself  at  present,  which  is — 
uncertainty.  Before  orderly  production 
can  be  resumed  in  the  fatherland  raw 
materials  must  be  obtained,  chiefly  in 
allied  countries  and  through  allied  ship- 
ping, at  present  inadequate  for  the  indus- 
trial needs  of  the  Allies  themselves. 
Moreover,  Germany  faces  grave  political, 
financial  and  labor  problems,  all  retard- 
ing resumption  of  manufacturing.  Fur- 
thermore, when  goods  are  ready  for  ship- 
ment they  must  go  largely  in  allied  ships. 

As  seen  in  Argentina,  emerging  from 
the  war,  the  first  thing  about  the  Ger- 
man that  strikes  one  forcibly  is  his  un- 
crushed  resolution,  his  determination  to 
work,  and  his  willingness  to  begin  any- 
where. Likewise,  his  willingness  to  face 
the  business  facts  without  bias  and  begin 
again  under  all  the  handicaps.  The  facts 
as  he  sees  them  are  that  time  must  count 
in  his  favor — prejudice  against  himself 
and  his  goods  will  not  last  forever,  and 
are  at  this  moment  worse  than  they  will 
ever  be  again. 

Five  or  ten  years  will  change  all  that, 
he  reasons,  and  he  will  spend  those  years 
working  at  whatever  turns  up.  The  first 
thing  that  turns  up  is  something  he  him- 


IGUASSU     FALLS — ARGENTINA'S     NIAGARA 
ABOUT    TO    BE    DEVELOPED     FOR 
WATER    POWER 


self  turned  up  even  while  the  war  was 
going  on — namely,  having  capital  and 
time  and  ability  he  turned  to  the  soil 
produce  and  manufacturing  industries  of 
Argentina  itself,  and  became  a  merchant, 
a  broker,  a  manager,  a  manufacturer,  a 
promoter,  a  banker.  During  the  war  he 
was  perhaps  on  the  Allies'  blacklist.  But 
now  the  manufacturers  and  merchants  of 
allied  countries  may  find  that  he  offers 
the  best  door  into  the  market. 

Down  in  his  secret  soul  he  might  pre- 
fer to  deal  with  Germans  and  handle 
German  goods.  But  facing  the  situation 
strictly  on  the  facts,  with  shelves  to  be 
filled  and  customers  satisfied  and  profit 
made,  he  is  willing  to  order  allied  goods. 
The  idea  of  boycotting  the  German  all 
over  the  world  has  usually  been  put  in 
terms  of  refusing  to  purchase  from  him. 

GERMANS  AS  CUSTOMERS 

\X7HEN  he  turns  up  as  a  customer, 
however,  that  is  manifestly  a  dif- 
ferent matter.  The  German  will  be  a 
customer  for  neutral  and  allied  goods 
until  his  own  country  can  supply  him, 
and  even  then,  where  other  goods  have 
been  established  in  the  market,  will  still 
go  on  the  facts  and  handle  them.    As  a 


seller  he  is  likewise  often  strongly  en- 
trenched in  handling  the  raw  materials 
needed  by  the  allied  countries. 

Even  in  the  sale  of  manufactured 
goods  from  Germany  itself,  allied  busi- 
ness men,  in  Argentina  at  least,  are 
frankly  asking  themselves  if  they  might 
not  as  well  profit  if  the  German  is  dis- 
posed to  sacrifice  values  for  the  sake  of 
gaining  a  new  foothold — isn't  it  really 
a  form  of  patriotism  to  take  the  profit 
thus  offered  ?  they  reason. 

How  long  it  may  take  to  overcome 
rancor  in  Europe  itself  between  German 
and  Frenchman,  German  and  Pole,  Ger- 
man and  Briton,  the  writer  is  not  in 
position  to  estimate.  But  in  a  neutral 
market  like  Argentina  the  lines  of  na- 
tionality already  begin  to  blur.  Busi- 
ness is  a  matter  of  individuals,  not  na- 
tionalities. The  German  starts  all  over 
again  with  the  vigilant  Briton  and 
Yankee  watching  him  on  one  side.  But 
on  the  other  he  deals  with  his  fellow- 
German  and  business  man  from  neutral 
countries. 

He  starts  as  the  under-dog.  There  is 
always  a  certain  sympathy  for  the  under- 
dog, and  he  knows  it,  and  even  over- 
plays the  part  in  his  humility.  There  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  the  German 
will  not  only  come  back  in  Argentina 
during  the  five  to  ten  years  of  prosperity 
which  seem  just  ahead  of  her,  but  that 
business  and  other  restrictions  imposed 
upon  him  may  even  do  much  to  help  him 
along. 


ARTICLE  XII 

PROPAGANDA  AGAINST  U.  S. 
GOODS  IS  MERE  GOSSIP 

gUENOS  AIRES,  Sept.  12.— For 
months  past  Americans  concerned 
with  world  trade  have  insisted  that  there 
is  strongly  organized  anti-American 
propaganda  in  world  markets,  especially 
i^atin  America,  and  more  specifically 
that  this  opposition  is  largely  British, 
reflecting  John  Bull's  apprehension  over 
the  foothold  gained  in  world  trade  by 
America  during  the  war. 

This  being  clearly  something  that 
meets  Carlyle's  formula,  "important  if 
true,"  the  writer  took  steps  to  investi- 
gate it  immediately  upon  arrival  in 
Buenos  Aires.  The  first  step  was  an 
article  contributed  to  one  of  the  English 
dailies  in  the  Argentine  capital,  review- 
ing the  rumors  and  stating  a  personal 
belief  that  publicity  would  cure  the  trou- 
ble if  it  really  existed. 

This  led  to  discussions  with  both 
Americans  and  Britons  who  have  been 
in  Argentina  during  the  war — men  of 
various  opinions,  from  the  apprehensive 
Briton  and  Yankee,  perhaps  both  after 
the  same  order,  to  the  man  of  either 
nation  in  position  to  view  the  subject 
with  some  detachment. 


22 


ARGENTINA 


PROPAGANDA  CHARGED 

TPHE  British  are  out  to  drive  us  from 
this  market,"  the  most  apprehen- 
sive Yankee  would  say.  "They  have  an 
organized  propaganda  against  Americans 
and  American  goods.  Just  talk  with 
any  one  who  has  been  here  a  little  while 
and  they  will  convince  you." 

"What  form  does  it  take?" 

"Why,  they  tell  buyers  of  merchan- 
dise that  American  goods  are  badly 
packed,  not  true  to  sample;  that  if  they 
buy  from  us  they  will  have  to  send  cash 
to  New  York,  and  that  after  paying  for 
their  merchandise  it  will  arrive  dam- 
aged, short  and  pilfered.  When  we  go 
out  to  sell,  the  buyer  is  prejudiced  against 
us." 

"Have  you  proof  that  the  British  are 
circulating  these  rumors?" 

"No,  we  can't  prove  it,  of  course — 
but  we  all  know  where  they  come  from." 

"Have  American  houses  done  any  of 
the  things  charged  against  them?" 

"Why,  yes;  there  have  been  com- 
plaints. Some  American  houses  demand 
cash  in  New  York,  and  among  several 
thousand  American  export  houses  which 
sprang  up  during  the  war  there  have 
been  mushroom  concerns.  Then  the  dock 
strike  here  in  Buenos  Aires  last  winter 
tied  up  whole  cargoes  of  goods  at  Monte- 
video, some  of  which  have  not  come 
through  yet." 

"Isn't  it  possible  that  we  Yankees  our- 
selves have  done  much  to  create  this  fan- 
cied propaganda;  have  any  of  our  com- 
petitors put  their  charges  in  print?" 

CONSUL  REPORTS  TELL  STORY 

"VTO — not  openly,  anyway." 

"Well,  if  I  were  either  a  com- 
petitive salesman,  with  an  interest  in 
depreciating  American   goods  and   busi- 


TANKS    AT    COMODORO    RIVADAVIA,    ARGENTINA'S    NEW   OIL   DISTRICT 


ness  methods,  or  an  Argentina  buyer 
maneuvering  for  price  concessions,  it 
would  be  easy  to  find  all  this  propaganda 
in  printed  form.  Simply  get  our  con- 
sular reports  and  export  trade  journals 
and  you  have  it.  We  ourselves  have 
been  saying  just  these  things  in  print  for 
years.  Moreover,  if  one  wishes  to  start 
an  anti-British  propaganda,  John  Bull's 
consular  reports  and  trade  journals 
would  furnish  just  as  good  material." 

Buenos  Aires  is  undoubtedly  full  of 
anti-American  propaganda.  But  it  is 
also  full  of  anti-British,  anti-German 
and  other  "anti"  propaganda.  To  defi- 
nitely put  one's  finger  on  it  anywhere  is 
difficult,  because  it  takes  the  form  of 
whispering  and  gossip. 


AN  Oil,   TANKER    LEAVING  DOCK   AT   COMODORO    RIVADAVIA 


Wherever  American  business  men 
come  into  competition  at  home  there  is 
just  about  the  same  sort  of  whispering. 
At  home  Jones's  salesman  would  not  say 
anything  against  Smith's  goods,  but — 
Smith's  salesman  never  discusses  com- 
petitors— but  concerning  Jones's  stuff. 
The  buyer  plays  Jones  against  Smith,  of 
course,  and  it  is  all  part  of  the  game — at 
home.  But  let  Jones  be  British  and 
Smith  a  Yankee,  in  rivalry  for  an  Argen- 
tine order,  with  Schultz,  a  camouflaged 
German  salesman,  after  the  same  order, 
and  all  this  competitive  gossip  is  immedi- 
ately focused  sharply  on  lines  of  nation- 
ality. It  is  no  longer  Jones  who  says 
these  dreadful  things  about  your  stuff, 
but  the  British,  and  no  longer  Smith,  but 
the  Yankees — and  meanwhile  the  Argen- 
tina buyer  and  the  submerged  German 
salesman  chuckle ! 

COMMERCE  CHAMBER  ACTS 

t^ROM  time  to  time  impartial  Ameri- 
cans and  Britons  have  tried  to  get 
this  gossip  out  into  the  open.  The 
Americans  have  said,  "Bring  us  definite 
complaints  of  bad  American  business 
methods  and  we  will  obtain  redress  for 
those  injured — our  government  and 
Chamber  of  Commerce  at  home  have 
machinery  for  just  that  purpose."  But 
no  complaints  have  been  forthcoming  be- 
cause practically  every  Argentine  con- 
cern with  a  grievance  has  already  sub- 
mitted it  to  our  Chamber  of  Commerce 
in  Argentina  and  got  satisfaction.  And 
the  Britons  have  been  at  pains  to  ex- 
press good  will  officially,  both  through 
their  government  agencies  and  trade  or- 
ganizations and  individual  executives. 

There  is  considerable  petty  "sniping" 
between  Britons  and  Yankees  in  Buenos 
Aires.  Two  daily  papers  published  in 
English,  chiefly  for  the  Britisli  colony, 
established  before  the  Yankees  came,  fre- 


ARGENTINA 


23 


quently  put  news  items  in  irritating 
terms  of  nationality.  But  there  is  also  a 
\  weekly  publication  in  English  that 
'  "snipes"  for  the  Yankees,  and  apart  from 
the  fact  that  the  British  journalist  can 
shoot  oftener,  matters  appear  to  be  about 
even.  It  is  all  on  a  decidedly  low  level, 
and  the  odd  thing  is  that  neither  side 
seems  to  see  the  possibility  of  "Fritz" 
using  it  against  both  of  them  for  his  own 
advantage. 

The  coming  year  will  be  one  of  radical 
trade  adjustments  in  world  markets. 
British  goods  have  been  temporarily  re- 
placed by  Yankee  and  Japanese  goods. 
The  British  are  naturally  apprehensive 
just  now,  while  picking  up  old  connec- 
tions, and  in  the  heat  of  direct  competi- 
tion may  strike  out  wildly.  Both  the 
Yankee  and  the  Japanese  are  going  to 
lose  some  of  the  easy  trade  secured  dur- 
ing the  war  through  inability  to  compete 
either  in  quality  or  business  methods, 
and  they  will  also  strike  out  wildly. 

MOSTLY  SALES  ROUTE  GOSSIP 

HPHUS  a  very  little  gossip  along  sales 
routes  can  easily  be  magnified  into 
"propaganda."  But  some  detachment 
and  common  sense  will  show  that  propa- 
ganda usually  comes  home  like  a  boom- 
erang and  hits  the  fellow  who  started  it. 
None  of  this  gossip-mongering  in  indi- 
vidual world  markets  in  any  way  involves 
good  understanding  and  team  work  be- 
tween John  Bull  and  Uncle  Sam  as  na- 
tions, or  even  between  British  business 
as  a  whole  and  American  business  as  a 


whole.  But  each  nation  and  each  busi- 
ness community  may  well  take  steps  to 
deal  with  local  rivalries  so  that  all  their 
energies  will  be  organized  for  team  play 
in  the  real  game — which  is  that  of  so  ex- 
panding world  markets  by  development 
of  resources  that  there  will  be  business 
for  everybody,  and  then  some. 

Let  us  close  the  subject  with  an  exam- 
ple of  team  play: 

A  big  American  corporation  entering 
an  important  world  market  found  that 
its  trademark  had  been  registered  there 
for  the  purpose  of  blocking  its  entry. 
This  information  was  secured  from  a 
merchant  in  that  country  anxious  to  pur- 
chase American  goods. 

The  American  corporation  investi- 
gated and  found  that  the  trademark  of  its 
chief  British  competitor  had  also  been 
registered  by  the  same  hostile  interests. 
The  British  were  unable  to  ship  goods, 
and  had  the  American  concern  gone  in, 
recovered  its  trademark  rights  and 
begun  business,  obviously  the  British 
would  have  been  at  a  disadvantage  when 
peace  came.  The  American  company, 
however,  cabled  the  facts  to  its  London 
branch,  which  laid  them  before  the 
British  concern,  and  Yankee  and  Briton 
joined  hands  in  recovering  their  trade- 
mark rights  in  that  market. 

Against  that  sort  of  spirit  whispering 
propaganda  is  powerless,  even  where  it 
really  exists,  and  that  is  the  spirit  which 
unquestionably  dominates  the  real  busi- 
ness wTorld  in  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain. 


ARTICLE  XIII 

PHILADELPHIA  FIRM 
GETS  EARLY  START 

DUENOS  AIRES,  Sept.  14.— Chester- 
ton once  said  that  ours  was  a  topsy- 
turvy age,  when  a  merchant  or  an  iron- 
monger could  be  more  powerful  and 
wealthy  than  kings. 

Along  that  line,  what  do  you  think  of 
a  Philadelphia  import  man  coming  home 
from  Buenos  Aires  by  way  of  Lisbon 
in  the  kaiser's  yacht? 

It  is  as  real  as  it  is  paradoxical.  The 
import  man  is  Francis  S.  Gallager,  rep- 
resenting the  Philadelphia  house  of  Law- 
rence Johnson  &  Co.  He  has  been  in- 
vestigating Latin  America  for  his  house 
the  last  few  months  and,  because  pas- 
sage direct  to  the  United  States  is  diffi- 
cult to  obtain,  will  go  by  the  way  of 
Portugal  and  Spain.  The  kaiser's  yacht 
is  now  the  S.  S.  Meteor,  in  a  British 
steamship  company's  service. 

Mr.  Gallager's  concern  is  no  mush- 
room affair  hastily  cobbled  together  dur- 
ing the  war,  but  thoroughly  representa- 
tive of  Philadelphia's  business  solidity, 
having  a  record  of  sixty  years  in  the  im- 
porting of  Latin-American  products. 
Eighty  per  cent  of  all  the  glazed  kid 
leather  produced  in  the  United  States  is 
made  in  and  around  Philadelphia ;  so  this 
house  imports  goatskins  from  Argentina 
and  Brazil.  Philadelphia  also  tans  other 
leathers,  for  which  this  house  imports 
cattle  hides  and  sheepskins,  together  with 
wool. 


IER     VIEW     SHOWING     THE     NEW     PETROLEUM    OIL,    FIELDS     AT    RIVADAVIA 


24 


ARGENTINA 


PHILADELPHIA  DEALS  ALONE 

\X7HEN  a  concern  of  this  experience 
decides  that  the  time  has  come  for 
also  embarking  upon  export  business, 
there  must  be  reality  behind  our  world- 
trade  aspirations.  Mr.  Gallager  was 
sent  to  the  southern  continent  not  only 
to  organize  export  facilities,  but  on  a 
commendable  policy.  The  average  im- 
port representative  in  Latin  America  will 
handle  a  dozen  or  more  lines  of  Ameri- 
can goods  made  by  scattered  houses — 
one  in  Philadelphia,  another  in  Chicago, 
another  in  Rochester,  another  in  Hart- 
ford, and  so  on.  Scattered  both  in  loca- 
tion and  nature,  there  is  often  difficulty 
in  securing  prompt  shipments  and  doing 
business  generally.  In  its  new  export 
business  the  Philadelphia  house  will  con- 
fine connections  to  the  Quaker  City  and 
its  neighborhood,  so  that  filling  orders 
and  keeping  promises  will  be  a  matter  of 
direct  dealing  with  business  concerns 
right  around  the  corner.  You  have  to 
go  south  and  hear  hard-luck  stories  from 
importers'  and  manufacturers'  representa- 
tives to  appreciate  what  an  improvement 
this  direct  dealing  can  effect.  As  Phila- 
delphia has  18,000  separate  factories  with 
300  different  industries  making  every- 
thing from  ships  and  locomotives  to  hat- 
bands and  thumbtacks,  it  offers  export 
possibilities  more  national  than  munici- 
pal in  character.  And  the  opportunities 
for  well-organized  and  well-managed 
exporting  to  Latin  America  are  so  great, 
Mr.  Gallager  finds,  that  he  believes  his 
house  might  even  go  the  length  of  trans- 
acting business  through  its  own  steam- 
ship lines. 

His  investigations  cover  Brazil,  Uru- 
guay and  Argentine  thus  far,  but  in  each 
country  he  has  established  branches.  His 
experience  in  Buenos  Aires  was  typical. 
First  he  had  to  find  a  competent  branch 
manager,  and  after  considerable  scouting 
around  discovered 
Robert  F.  Knutty, 
a  Swiss  business 
man  with  long  ex- 
perience in  Argen- 
tina, speaking 
Spanish,  French, 
English  and  Ger- 
man. Inquiring  for 
offices,  he  was  told 
that  nothing  could 
possibly  be  obtain- 
ed in  the  over- 
crowded Argentine 
capital.  But  after 
a  little  quiet  scout- 
ing he  secured 
three  rooms  right 
in  the  center  of  the 
business  district 
during  a  ten-min- 
ute interval  while 
somebody  was  mov- 
ing from  one  build- 
ing     to     another. 


Then  he  wanted  a  telephone.  "Impossi- 
ble!" everybody  said.  "If  you  get  one 
in  six  months  you  will  be  lucky,  and  more 
likely  it  will  take  a  year."  Mr.  Gallager 
believes  in  advertising.  He  advertised 
for  a  telephone  and  somebody  who  was 
moving  sold  him  a  residence  subscrip- 
tion, which,  with  great  difficulty,  was 
finally  installed.  Similar  obstacles  were 
overcome  in  getting  typewriters,  stenog- 
raphers and  other  necessities.  When  Mr. 
Gallager  leaves  Buenos  Aires  the  little 
business  will  be  doing  quite  well ! 

SHIPPING  FACILITIES  NEEDED 

A  SKED  for  his  impressions,  he  said : 

"In  Brazil  I  visited  Pernambuco, 
Bahia,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Sao  Paulo,  Santos 
and  Porto  Alegre,  traveling  sometimes 
by  steamer  and  again  by  rail.  On  the 
steamers  we  were  often  three  and  four 
passengers  in  a  room,  which  impressed 
upon  me  the  need  for  prompt  and  careful 
attention  to  better  freight  and  passenger 
facilities  in  South  America.  Our  trade 
cannot  be  expected  to  expand  with  any 
great  rapidity  if  it  is  continuously  diffi- 
cult to  get  freight  accommodation  for 
merchandise  or  comfortable  passage  for 
the  business  man.  Such  difficulties  retard 
growth. 

"The  railroad  from  Rio  to  Sao  Paulo 
and  Santos  is  probably  the  best  in  Brazil, 
with  sleepers,  diners  and  saloon  cars  com- 
bined with  fair  speed,  and  leaves  a  rather 
pleasant  remembrance,  particularly  if 
showers  should  settle  the  dust  prior  to 
starting.     As  much  cannot  be  said   for 


APARTMENT     FOR    FAMILIES    ON    ARGENTINE    RAILROAD    CARS 


the  ride  from  Porto  Alegre  to  Rivera, 
the  latter  place  being  at  the  Uruguayan 
border.  Narrow  gauge,  slow  speed  with 
innumerable  stops,  does  not  make  the 
trip  one  of  pleasure.  Indeed,  a  far- 
traveled  man  made  the  statement  to 
me  in  Rio  that  he  considered  it  the  worst 
railroad  in  the  world,  claiming  that 
through  lack  of  tunnels  and  bridges  the 
distance  was  extended  enormously,  the 
line  running  around  obstacles  instead  of 
going  through,  over  or  under  them.  This 
was  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  a  certain 
little  flat-topped  hill  was  in  our  view  for 
an  hour  or  more  as  we  traveled,  first  ap- 
pearing on  one  side  of  the  train  and  then 
on  the  other,  changing  continuously.  The 
engineer  who  constructed  the  road  evi- 
dently had  an  attachment  for  that  hill, 
judging  from  the  reluctance  with  which 
he  took  the  line  out  of  its  vicinity. 

"While  in  Porto  Alegre  I  made  inqui- 
ries looking  to  a  visit  to  Pelotas  and  Rio 
Grande,  but  I  found  the  infrequent  and 
irregular  means  of  communications 
scarcely  permitted  my  doing  so.  There- 
fore, I  passed  them  by.  I  was  told  that 
a  quicker  trip  could  be  made  between 
Porto  Alegre  and  Rio  Grande  twenty- 
fiveyearsago  than  today.  This  may  sound 
almost  incredible,  and  yet  the  state- 
ment was  made  by  a  well-known  Brazil- 
ian business  man,  who  freely  admitted 
that  Porto  Alegre  was  not  progressing 
as  it  should,  primarily  due  to  the  trouble 
of  getting  in  or  out  of  the  place. 

IMPROVE  RAIL  CONNECTIONS 

"J  SAY  this  not  in  a  spirit  of  fault-find- 
ing or  criticism,  but  rather  with  the 
idea  of  drawing  attention  to  what  is 
only  too  palpably  hindering  the  growth  of 
the  country.  There  should  undoubtedly 
be  an  influx  of  American  initiative  and 
capital,  which  would  act  as  an  instant 
stimulus  all  along  the  line.  The  busi- 
ness men  of  the 
States  know  only 
too  well  the  im- 
portance of  regu- 
lar, frequent  and 
speedy  communica- 
tion between  trade 
centers.  What 
holds  good  at  home 
is  equally  applica- 
ble abroad.  There 
should  be  a  good 
railroadcon- 
necting  the  impor- 
t  a  n  t  Brazilian 
cities,  and  the  in- 
duction of  such 
would  undoubted- 
ly stimulate  busi- 
ness at  once.  It 
would  appear  that 
B  ra  z  i  1  is  almost 
untouched,  with 
her  raw  stocks 
awaiting  the  neces- 


ARGENTINA 


25 


sary  development  that  would  undoubt- 
edly come  with  the  introduction  of  for- 
eign capital.  Our  western  packers  have 
been  keen  enough  to  see  the  advantage 
of  lower  Brazil  as  a  cattle-raising  coun- 
try, which  some  think  will  eventually  be- 
come one  of  the  best  in  the  world.  They, 
therefore,  have  established  their  plants  at 
various  points  in  the  district  referred  to. 

"The  Brazilians  are  good  business 
men  and,  considering  that  the  country  has 
a  population  of  25,000,000  or  more,  it 
behooves  America  to  look  carefully  after 
trade  with  our  Portuguese-speaking 
friends. 

"Uruguay  is  a  progressive  land.  Judg- 
ing from  the  many  American  flags  dis- 
played in  Montevideo  on  holidays  and 
special  occasion,  one  could  not  be  blamed 
for  believing  that  the  far-off  republic  has 
a  warm  place  in  her  heart  for  the  United 
States.  Her  people  are  very  likable  from 
a  social  standpoint,  while  some  have 
claimed  they  are  one  of  the  safest  people 
in  South  America  to  trade  with. 

"As  to  the  Argentine,  I  cannot  say 
much  at  this  time,  due  to  being  preoccu- 
pied since  my  arrival,  which  has  prevented 
my  traveling  through  the  interior.  The 
many  ships  seen  in  the  harbor  of  Buenos 
Aires  all  attest  to  the  fact  that  a  large 
trade  is  transacted  here.  Business  was 
naturally  upset  by  the  war  and  later  by 
numerous  strikes.  With  both  causes  of 
unrest  done  away  with,  many  think  the 
Argentine  is  on  the  eve  of  unparalleled 
business.  The  city  of  Buenos  Aires, 
with  a  population  of  close  to  1,750,000, 
is  a  progressive,  cosmopolitan  town,  the 
gateway  to  the  Great  Beyond.  My  re- 
marks relative  to  Brazil  and  American 
capital  apply  with  equally  as  great  force 
to  the  Argentine.  Opportunity  unques- 
tionably awaits  those  who  are  quick 
enough  to  see  and 
act. 

THREE  VITAL 
POINTS 

<'DEGARD- 
ING  trade 
with  Brazil  and 
the  Argentine  as 
concerns  the  Amer- 
ican business  man, 
there  are  three 
thoughts  that  I 
should  like  to  bring 
out  prominently: 

"First.  The  run- 
ning of  good-sized 
vessels  flying  the 
Stars  and  Stripes, 
with  proper  accom- 
modations for  pas- 
sengers, such  ves- 
sels to  follow  a  reg- 
ular schedule. 
Some  contend 
there  should  be  a 
weekly     service, 


stopping  at  all  the  large  ports  from 
Pernambuco  down.  But  a  semimonthly 
fast  schedule,  calling  at  Rio  and  Buenos 
Aires  only,  would  permit  a  hurried 
business  man  who  wanted  to  go  to 
either  one  of  the  capitals  to  do  so  within 
a  reasonable  time.  It  is  claimed  that  the 
trade  with  these  two  cities  would  sup- 
port such  a  service.  A  man  going  to 
Chicago  from  Philadelphia  does  not  care 
to  use  an  accommodation  train ;  neither 
does  a  man  wishing  to  travel  to  Buenos 
Aires  care  to  waste  the  time  necessarily 
consumed  in  stopping,  discharging  and 
loading  freight  at  each  port,  which  is 
necessary  with  the  vessels  that  make  such 
calls.  There  is  no  question  whatever 
that  there  should  be  one  or  more 
American  lines  running  to  the  east  coast 
of  South  America,  with  vessels  that 
would  be  a  credit  to  the  nation  they  rep- 
resent. The  sooner  such  a  service  is  in- 
augurated the  better. 

"Second.  The  American  method  of 
doing  business  in  South  America  has 
come  in  for  considerable  criticism,  much 
of  which  is  justified.  Samples  have  been 
sent  out,  and  when  orders  were  given 
based  on  them,  what  was  shipped  proved 
entirely  different.  The  old  complaint  of 
improper  packing  still  greets  ojie.  Eng- 
land, France,  Italy,  Spain  and  Germany 
have  been  in  these  fields  for  many  years 
and  have  granted  time  to  their  customers. 
If  we  hope  to  successfully  compete  we 
must  give  equally  as  good  conditions,  ca- 


tering to  the  buyer's  wants,  and  not  try 
to  force  him  to  take  something  that  he 
does  not  desire.  That,  of  course,  does 
not  mean  that  no  attempt  should  be  made 
to  introduce  something  new;  but  when 
a  man  in  South  America  orders  black 
stockings,  for  instance,  he  does  not  want 
or  expect  to  get  white  ones,  and  this 
irregularity  is  just  exactly  what  took 
place,  particularly  during  the  war.  Then 
the  southern  buyer  was  helpless,  but  with 
the  return  to  these  markets  of  the  other 
countries,  who  were  forced  largely  to 
drop  out  during  the  great  conflict,  the 
situation  changes  immediately.  The  other 
nations  will  follow  the  buyer's  wishes, 
and  if  we  do  not  it  is  inevitable  that  the 
trade  will  swing  back  to  where  it  was 
prior  to  the  war.  We  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  a  lifetime — see  that  it  is  not 
lost  through  carelessness. 

"Third.  From  what  I  have  been  able 
to  gather,  many  of  the  men  sent  in  the 
past  to  the  Land  of  the  Southern  Cross, 
as  representatives  of  American  houses, 
have  not  been  of  the  caliber  either  to 
build  up  a  business  or  inspire  confidence. 
A  firm  is  very  often  judged  by  the  bear- 
ing of  the  person  who  speaks  for  it. 
Therefore,  the  man  sent  to  undertake 
such  a  mission  should  be  qualified  by  age, 
experience  and  ability  to  handle  the  mat- 
ter properly.  Tact,  patience,  good  na- 
ture and  equally  good  manners  are  prime 
necessities  if  success  is  to  be  expected. 
Needless  to  say,  a  knowledge  of  the  lan- 
guage of  the  country  with  which  one  is 
attempting  to  do  business  is  of  first  im- 
portance. 

"Whatever  the  American  business  man 
starts  out  seriously  to  do  he  generally 
accomplishes.  If  he  has  made  up  his 
mind  definitely  to  go  after  the  South 
American  trade,  I  feel  sure  his  efforts 
will  be  crowned 
with  success.  The 
field  awaits  him — 
this  is  the  psycho- 
logical moment." 


ARGENTINE     DINING    CAR,     SHOWTNG    AMERICAN    PLATER-PIANO 


ARTICLE  XIV 

ARGENTINA 
HAS  MANY 
NATIONAL 
HEROES 

D  U  E  N  O  S 
AIRES,  Sept. 
1 7. — The  Argen- 
tino  knows  Wash- 
ington and  Lin- 
coln, our  Declara- 
tion of  Independ- 
ence and  at  least 
the  outline  of 
our  national  his- 
tory. Having  a  his- 
tory of  his  own, 
with  its  outstand- 
i  n  g  personalities, 
he  wonders  that 
fewAmericanshave 


26 


ARGENTINA 


heard  of  San  Martin,  Belgrano,  Mo- 
reno, Bartolome  Mitre,  Sarmiento  and 
Rivadavia. 

The  story  of  Argentina  can  be  out- 
lined in  the  lives  of  her  historical  lead- 
ers. 

SAN  MARTIN  was  the  Washington 
of  Argentina,  and  his  feat  in  crossing  the 
Andes  to  defeat  the  Spanish  army  in 
Chile  is  unique  in  military  history.  Na- 
poleon crossed  the  Alps  at  an  altitude 
of  less  than  8000  feet,  while  San  Mar- 
tin went  over  the  Andes  at  a  height  of 
nearly  13,000  feet,  where  men  and 
horses  suffer  from  terrible  mountain 
sickness.  Jose  de  San  Martin  (pro- 
nounced Sahn  Marteen)  was  born  in 
Argentina  in  1778,  the  son  of  a  Span- 
ish army  captain,  given  a  military  edu- 
cation in  Spain,  fought  for  Spain  against 
France  and  in  1812  returned  to  Argen- 
tina, where  he  soon  rose  to  command  of 
the  national  army  fighting  for  free- 
dom. 

CROSSES  IN  THREE  WEEKS 

HPHE  Spaniards  were  still  strong  in 
Chile  and  Peru.  San  Martin  col- 
lected 4000  gauchos,  equipped  them  with 
arms  and  provisions  and  transport 
against  great  difficulties  and,  after  prep- 
arations lasting  two  years,  crossed  the 
Andes  in  three  weeks,  deceiving  the 
Spanish  general  as  to  his  real  route,  and 
on  February  12,  1817,  completely  de- 
stroyed the  Spanish  army.  The  inde- 
pendence of  Chile  was  proclaimed,  but 
Peru  remained  a  Spanish  stronghold. 
Then  San  Martin  organized  a  navy  with 
the  help  of  Lord  Cochrane,  an  English 
naval  officer  temporarily  in  disgrace  at 
home.  Lord  Cochrane  landed  the  Ar- 
gentine and  Chilean  armies  at  Callao  in 
1 820 ;    the    Spaniards    withdrew    from 


BUENOS    AIRES    DEPARTMENT    STORE    MAINTAINS    OWN    TOY    FACTORY 


Lima;  San  Martin  proclaimed  the  inde- 
pendence of  Peru,  and  a  little  later  Boli- 
var defeated  the  Spanish  army  and  Peru 
was  made  free  from  Spanish  dominion. 
San  Martin  died  in  France  in  1850,  but 
his  body  lies  in  the  Cathedral  of  Buenos 
Aires.  He  believed  in  independence,  but 
not  in  republics;  and,  as  Latin-American 
sentiment  was  overwhelmingly  demo- 
cratic, he  withdrew  to  Europe  to  end  his 
days. 

BELGRANO  was  in  some  respects 
the  Ben  Franklin  of  Argentine  independ- 
ence ;  but  a  soldier  instead  of  a  philoso- 
pher. Born  in  1770,  Manuel  Belgrano 
led  an  army  of  young  men  in  defense  of 
Buenos  Aires,  which  had  made  a  start 
toward  freedom  by  setting  up  an  assem- 
bly, and  in  September,  1812,  aided  by  re- 
enforcements  of  gauchos,  defeated  the 
Spaniards  in  northern  Argentina.  A 
vear  later  he  was  himself  defeated.     In 


CUSTOMS    HOUSE    AT    BUENOS    AIRES 


1816  a  congress  of  the  Argentine  prov- 
inces met  at  Tucuman,  where  Belgrano 
appeared,  urging  independence.  This 
was  declared  on  July  9,  1816,  since  a 
national  holiday.  Belgrano  died  in  1820, 
and  is  buried  in  the  historic  church  of 
Santo  Domingo  in  Buenos  Aires. 

JEFFERSON   OF    ARGENTINA 

A/IORENO  was  the  Thomas  Jefferson 
of  Argentina  and  among  the  first 
to  take  steps  for  its  independence.  May 
25  is  the  Argentine  national  holiday,  the 
day  of  the  first  meeting  of  the  Buenos 
Aires  assembly,  of  which  Mariano  Mo- 
reno (born  in  Buenos  Aires  in  1778)  was 
secretary.  The  assembly  immediately 
founded  an  "official  gazette  of  Buenos 
Aires,"  of  which  Moreno  was  editor.  An 
ardent  democrat,  his  articles  therein  stim- 
ulated the  Argentinos  in  their  fight  for 
freedom.  He  also  founded  the  national 
library.  Sent  to  England  on  a  diplo- 
matic mission,  he  died  at  sea  in  1811. 

RIVADAVIA  made  Buenos  Aires  the 
capital  of  Argentina,  helped  defend  it 
against  the  Portuguese  from  Brazil,  and 
established  water  works,  the  University 
of  Buenos  Aires,  and  gave  Buenos  Aires 
its  musical  trend  through  the  Philhar- 
monic Society.  Bernardo  Rivadavia 
(1780-1845)  was  of  Italian  descent  and 
a  practical  leader,  building  in  detail 
upon  the  foundation  laid  by  Argentina's 
soldiers  and  writers. 

ROSAS  was  the  next  outstanding  fig- 
ure in  Argentine  history — but  not  a 
pleasing  one.  Juan  Manuel  Rosas,  sup- 
ported by  the  gauchos  in  the  provinces, 
attained  absolute  dictatorship,  organized 
a  special  police  called  the  "Mazhorca"  to 
hunt  down  his  political  enemies,  and 
until  his  downfall  in  1852  was  a  merci- 
less tyrant.  But  out  of  his  misrule  de- 
veloped a  little  band  of  patriots,  exiled  in 
Uruguay  and  Chile,  who  overthrew  him 
and  made  a  greater  Argentina.  Before 
conquering  with  the  sword  they  wielded 
the  pen,  and  one  might  say  that  the  re- 
public of  today  was  founded  by  a  handful 
of  journalists. 


ARGENTINA 


MITRE  was  the  chief  opponent  of 
Rosas.  Born  in  1821,  Bartolome  Mitre 
fought  at  seventeen  in  Uruguay,  wrote 
against  Rosas  as  an  exile  both  in  that 
country  and  Chile,  and  at  thirty  com- 
manded the  artillery  in  the  army  that 
overthrew  Rosas.  He  was  soldier,  jour- 
nalist, poet,  historian  and  statesman  dur- 
ing his  life  of  seventy-five  years,  dying 
in  1906.  His  poems  possess  high  lyrical 
qualities.  He  wrote  lives  of  San  Mar- 
tin and  Belgrano,  and  in  1869  founded 
La  Nacion,  one  of  Argentina's  great 
journals.  He  was  president  of  the  re- 
public in  the  sixties,  and  helped  over- 
throw the  dictator  Lopez  in  Paraguay. 

SARMIENTO  LIKE  LINCOLN 

CARMIENTO  was  in  some  ways  like 
Lincoln,  in  that,  with  limited  school- 
ing, he  educated  himself  and  rose  to  be 
president  of  Argentina.  Getting  hold  of 
Ben  Franklin's  autobiography  at  sixteen, 
he  took  Franklin  for  his  model.  Born  in 
1811,  Domingo  Faustino  Sarmiento  was 
likewise  an  enemy  of  Rosas,  helped  in  his 
overthrow,  and  when  elected  president  in 
1867  actively  developed  railroads, 
schools,  the  naval  academy  and  the  Ar- 
gentine National  Bank.  He  got  much 
of  his  enthusiasm  for  schools  during  a 
visit  to  the  United  States  and  an  ac- 
quaintance with  Horace  Mann,  and  in 
recognition  of  this  bond  the  Argentine 
Government  in  1913  presented  Boston 
with  a  statue  of  Sarmiento. 

The  street  names  of  Buenos  Aires 
make  possible  a  taxicab  survey  of  Argen- 
tina's history.  Besides  the  foregoing 
great  men,  there  are  streets  named  after 
Saavadra,  first  president  of  the  republic; 
Liniers,  who  defended  Buenos  Aires 
against  the  English ;  the  Avenido  de 
Mayo,  indicating  Argentina's  month  of 
liberty,  with  another  street  especially 
named  the  Twenty-fifth  of  May;  the 
Pasea  de  Julio,  to  commemorate  the  dec- 
laration of  independence,  its  great  men 
and  its  battles  generally,  with  names  for 
all  the  other  Latin-American  republics, 
and  streets  for  the  United  States  (Calle 
Estados  Unidos),  Washington,  Franklin 
and  Lincoln. 

The  Argentina  national  hymn,  "Oid 
Mortales!"  ("Hear,  O  Mortals!")  is 
said  to  differ  from  that  of  all  other  coun- 
tries in  that,  instead  of  abstract  com- 
monplaces, it  is  packed  with  actual 
events.  Here  is  the  first  verse,  in  Span- 
ish and  English: 

Oid,  mortales,  el  gritto  sagrado, 
Libertad !    Libertad !    Libertad ! 
Oid  el  ruido  de  rotas  cadenas! 
Ved  en  trono  a  la  noble  igualdad. 
Se  levanta  a  la  faz  de  la  tierra 
Una  nueva  y  gloriosa  nacion, 
Coronada  su  sien  de  laureles, 
Ya  sus  plantas  rendido  un  leon ! 

Hear,  O  mortals,  the  sacred  shouts, 
Of  liberty,  liberty,  liberty! 
Hear  the  sound  of  broken  chains, 


Behold  equality  enthroned ; 
Behold  in  the  face  of  day  arising 
A  new  and  glorious  nation, 
Her  brows  are  crowned  with  laurel, 
A  vanquished  lion  is  at  her  feet! 


B 


ARTICLE  XV 

WHAT  CAN  AMERICANS 
DO  TO  AID  ARGENTINA? 

UENOS  AIRES,  Sept.  22.— Roberto 
Campion  was  as  tickled  as  a  boy  with 
his  new  American  automobile. 

We  motored  out  over  the  winter  roads 
of  the  Argentine  countryside,  Roberto 
driving.  A  kilometer  of  firm,  dry,  black 
soil,  innocent  of  surfacing  or  drainage, 
would  be  traversed  at  thirty  miles  an 
hour,  and  then  a  half  mile  of  water 
loomed  up  ahead. 

Roberto  knew  all  these  mud  holes.  If 
they  were  only  up  to  the  hubs,  he  put 
the  car  through  joyously.  If  they  were 
up  to  the  radiator,  he  got  out  and  cov- 
ered the  latter  with  canvas  to  protect  the 
carburetor,  and  we  went  through,  send- 
ing a  great  wave  ahead.  If  water  and 
mud  were  still  deeper  and  he  was  not 
sure  of  bottom,  a  big  Argentine  cart 
with  wheels  ten  feet  in  diameter,  hauled 
by  half  a  dozen  horses,  waited  to  pull  us 
out  if  we  got  into  trouble. 

"I  learned  this  from  a  Yankee,"  he 
said.  "Nothing  but  a  Yankee  automo- 
bile, with  its  excess  power,  built  for 
rough  country,  will  do  it.  When  roads 
get  like  this  in  winter  people  around  here 
put  up  their  European  cars.  But  we 
get  through!" 

AMERICAN  CARS  FIND  FAVOR 

AMERICAN  automobiles  have  been 
going  into  Argentina  in  increasing 
pumbers  the  last  three  years,  and  Argen- 
tines, accustomed  to  the  lighter  powered, 
fuel-conserving  automobiles  of  European 
makes,  which  are  adapted  for  hard  roads 
and  slight  grades  in  well-developed  coun- 
tries, have  learned  that  the  American  car 
is  better  suited  to  the  harder  conditions 
in  their  campo  and  mountain  districts. 

On  the  heels  of  the  American  auto 
must  come  Argentina  road  development 
in  American  style.  That  is  indispensable 
for  our  market,  and  also  for  Argentina. 
Once  leave  the  pavements  of  any  city  in 
the  republic  and  you  are  out  on  the  vir- 
gin soil  itself,  waiting  for  road  develop- 
ment from  the  very  beginning.  No  great 
trunk  highways  cross  the  country,  and 
even  local  highways  are  virtually  un- 
known. With  farms  of  10,000  to  50,000 
acres  road  building  is  often  a  matter  for 
the  estancia  owner  himself,  and  he  is  sat- 
isfied to  lay  out  a  plain  dirt  track,  fill 


27 


some  of  the  mud  holes  with  straw  and 
take  to  the  high-wheeled  cart  when  win- 
ter floods  make  motoring  impossible. 

Argentina  needs  American  capital  for 
road  development.  She  needs  American 
road-development  methods  even  more. 
With  us  road  development  has  been  a 
matter  of  enthusiasm  and  education.  The 
Argentino,  just  beginning  to  wonder 
what  can  be  done  about  roads,  stands 
where  we  stood  twenty-five  years  ago. 

But  unquestionably  he  can  profit  by 
our  experience,  and  if  he  will  can  save 
time  and  money  by  avoiding  our  mis- 
takes. 

NO  MATERIAL  ON  HAND 

A  RGENTINE  roads  will  run  to  enor- 
mous mileage  and  require  popular 
understanding  and  support  for  finance 
through  local  bonds.  In  the  richest  farm- 
ing section,  where  cattle,  grain  and  wood 
are  grown,  there  is  absolutely  no  road- 
building  material — not  a  stone  to  throw 
at  a  hen.  So  road  materials  must  be 
brought  in.  Because  good  roads  once 
built  will  immediately  be  used  for  motor- 
truck freighting,  probably  the  road  engi- 
neer would  suggest  concrete  highways,  or 
some  equally  durable  construction. 
Against  the  absence  of  road-building  ma- 
terials there  are  certain  advantages — no 
grades,  no  hills  to  be  overcome,  no  freez- 
ing of  the  soil  in  the  winter. 

The  Campion  Brothers  employ  ninety 
men  on  their  estancia,  of  whom  five  are 
busy  most  of  the  year  repairing  grain 
bags.  Nearly  all  Argentina's  wheat  and 
corn  is  handled  in  bags,  millions  upon 
millions  of  them,  all  imported  at  high 
cost.  The  bags  get  cut  and  torn  in  hand- 
ling, spilling  the  grain,  and  are  piled  out- 
doors in  great  stacks,  where  grain  is  ex- 
posed to  weather  and  pests.  Argentina 
has  a  few  grain  elevators  at  her  ports, 
but  a  system  of  country  elevators 
throughout  the  republic  would  save  her 
millions  of  pesos  every  year — not  merely 
in  the  cost  of  bags,  but  cheaper  handling 
of  grain,  and  therefore  cheaper  produc- 
tion. As  in  Australia,  the  building  of  a 
comprehensive  system  of  grain  elevators 
with  closed  grain  cars  would  be  paid  for 
in  a  few  years  by  the  economies  effected, 
and  there  are  excellent  prospects  that 
American  capital  and  experience  will  pro- 
vide such  a  system  during  the  next  few 
years. 

The  small  towns  throughout  Argen- 
tina lack  water  works  and  drainage.  As 
a  consequence,  health  standards  in  such 
places  are  low,  and  retard  population  and 
advancement.  There  is  no  reason  why 
every  small  town  in  Argentina  should 
not  have  its  water  system  and  sewers.  In- 
crease in  health  would  quickly  bring 
enough  increase  in  population  to  pay  for 
them. 

MANY  YANKEE  RANCHERS 

AMONG  the  owners  of  large  Argen- 
tine estancias  there  is  a  good  sprink- 
ling of  Yankees.    Every  Yankee  rancher 


28 


ARGENTINA 


a  disposition  to  limit  profits.  There  have 
been  genuine  bonanzas  in  Argentine  beef, 
hides,  wool  and  grain,  but  their  develop- 
ment has  always  meant  the  solid  develop- 
ment of  the  country  itself.  Therefore, 
a  good  foundation  has  been  laid  for  still 
further  intensive  investment. 


FARM    MACHINERY    WAREHOUSE    IX    BUENOS  AIRES 


with  whom  the  writer  talked  in  Argen- 
tina had  given  some  thought  to  schools. 
Throughout  the  countryside  schools  are 
not  merely  scarce,  but  almost  universally 
absent.  Farm  employes  are  generally 
immigrants  from  Europe,  without  their 
families,  and  have  all  the  shortcomings  of 
roving  laborers.  The  man  with  a  fam- 
ily .  and  children  would  be  a  better 
farmer,  and  ultimately  a  settler,  securing 
land  of  his  own.  But  before  families 
can  be  attracted  there  must  be  schools, 
and  the  American  estancia  owner  sees 
that  clearly.  Sometimes  he  points  to  a 
shipment  of  school  desks  and  seats  in  the 
machinery  shed,  saying  that  this  is  as  far 
as  he  has  got,  while  again  he  intends  to 
have  a  school  on  his  property  as  soon  as 
building  material  can  once  more  be  ob- 
tained. 

When  our  own  Chamber  of  Commerce 
was  formed  in  Buenos  Aires  the  manager 
ordered  some  furniture.  On  one  of  the 
leather-covered  chairs  a  blemish  was  dis- 
covered. It  proved  to  be  a  brand  mark 
on  the  hide  of  the  steer  from  which  the 
leather  was  made.  The  chair  had  been 
fashioned  in  Buenos  Aires,  but  the 
leather  came  from  abroad. 

"I'll  re-cover  it,"  said  the  furniture 
man  when  the  blemish  was  called  to  his 
attention. 

"No — we  want  to  keep  that  chair  just 
as  it  is,"  declared  Manager  Wisner. 
"That  is  an  Argentine  brand  on  an  Ar- 
gentine hide,  shipped  abroad  for  tanning 
and  then  returned.  It  is  a  most  signifi- 
cant reminder  of  Argentina's  need  for 
home  industries  in  many  lines." 

For  several  generations  European  capi- 
tal has  been  pouring  into  Argentina,  de- 
veloping railroads,  public  utilities  and 
agriculture.  Through  British  enterprise 
in  running  narrow-gauge  railroads  into 
unsettled  farming  sections,  Argentina 
has  been  provided  with  transportation  to 
market  sometimes  in  excess  of  present 
needs  as  to  mileage,  and  must  grow  up 


to  her  facilities.  There  is  room  for  im- 
provement in  transportation  service,  how- 
ever, which  is  naturally  reduced  in  effi- 
ciency and  stiff  in  cost  at  the  end  of  the 
war.  There  also  appears  to  be  room  for 
the  building  of  railways  to  develop  Ar- 
gentina's mineral  resources,  and  later, 
perhaps,  farm  lands  which  require  irri- 
gation. 

Street  railways,  with  gas  and  electric 
corporations,  are  a  favorite  investment 
for  European  capital  throughout  Latin 
America,  and,  as  with  railways,  it  is  fre- 
quently suggested  that  American  capital 
will  find  no  room  without  duplicating 
activities.  Yet  some  of  these  utilities  are 
managed  by  Americans,  and  the  trans- 
formation of  horse  cars  into  trolleys  in 
Buenos  Aires  and  elsewhere  was  often 
accomplished  by  Americans,  who  stepped 
in  with  money  and  engineering  skill,  took 
over  the  horse-car  service,  and  sold  it 
back  to  the  European  owners. 

Ports  are  another  favorite  investment 
for  European  money,  and  the  splendid 
development  of  harbors  up  and  down  the 
east  coast  of  South  America  is  usually 
due  to  the  enterprise  of  European  cor- 
porations in  securing  concessions,  equip- 
ping the  ports  with  modern  cranes  and 
railroad  connections,  and  then  enjoying 
virtually  a  monopoly.  The  ports  are  not 
all  gone  yet  by  any  means,  and  growing 
American  trade  and  shipping  will  prob- 
ably lead  to  Yankee  development  of  port 
facilities. 

Real  investment  in  Argentina  has 
hardly  begun,  but  the  republic  already 
has  some  of  the  characteristics  of  an  old 
investment  country.  Other  Latin-Ameri- 
can republics  have  been  bonanza  lands 
in  which  high  earnings  on  speculative  in- 
vestments such  as  mines  and  oil  wells, 
subject  to  political  disturbances,  have  at- 
tracted capital.  Argentina's  development 
has  been  in  farming  and  transportation, 
stabilized  by  a  government  which,  while 
hospitable  to  foreign  capital,  still  shows 


ARTICLE  XVI 

CUSTOMS  REGULATIONS 
REPLETE  WITH  DELAYS 

DUENOS  AIRES,  Sept.  2-1.— An 
American  salesman  turned  up  in 
Buenos  Aires  with  several  trunks  of  sam- 
ples. The  customs  house  promptly  halted 
him,  went  through  the  trunks  and  as- 
sessed the  stuff  at  stiff  tariff  duties;  it 
cost  him  several  hundred  dollars  in  our 
money  to  get  into  the  country  at  all. 

Had  he  studied  Argentina's  customs 
regulations  before  leaving  home  or,  bet- 
ter yet,  asked  one  of  our  branch  banks  in 
Buenos  Aires  or  the  United  States  com- 
mercial attache  for  a  technical  opinion  on 
his  line,  many  of  the  samples  could  have 
been  photographed  to  show  designs  and 
a  small  service  trunk  of  actual  samples 
taken  in  at  reasonable  charges. 

Another  American  salesman  spent  two 
weeks  in  Buenos  Aires  without  taking  his 
samples  out  of  the  customs  house  at  all ; 
they  merely  lay  there  in  several  big 
trunks  while  he  investigated  possibili- 
ties. When  he  got  ready  to  leave  the 
country  he  found  that  he  must  pay  full 
duty  on  all  his  stuff  for  the  privilege  of 
having  it  lie  two  weeks  on  the  wharf. 
His  samples  had  been  regularly  declared 
to  the  officials  as  "firearms."  He  was 
told  that  had  he  declared  them  as  "ma- 
chine guns,"  which  they  really  were, 
there  would  have  been  no  duty. 

ROCKY  ROAD  OF  RED  TAPE 

tj^EW  details  in  Latin-American  trade 
are  so  puzzling  and  annoying  to  the 
average  American  business  man  as  cus- 
toms regulations.  From  his  standpoint 
these  seem  complicated,  slow  and  unnec- 
essary. 

But  from  the  standpoint  of  the  Latin 
Americans  themselves  they  are  often  rea- 
sonable, and  when  looked  at  from  the 
other  fellow's  side  will  be  better  under- 
stood and  more  intelligently  followed. 

The  first  fundamental  in  the  Latin 
American's  viewpoint  is  that  much  of  the 
revenue  of  the  southern  republics  comes 
from  import  duties  on  goods.  Accur- 
ately ascertaining  and  assessing  duties 
not  only  protects  the  government,  but 
protects  importers  and  merchants  who 
buy  the  stuff,  so  that  they  are  on  an  even 
footing  in  prices.  In  addition  to  reve- 
nue, the  tariffs  are  adjusted  with  a  view 
to  protecting  home  industries  by  in- 
creasing the  duties  where  imported  arti- 
cles compete  with  home  products.  Next, 
some  of  the  governments  use  the  customs 
house    to    protect    their    people    against 


ARGENTINA 


29 


adulterated  and  injurious  products,  espe- 
cially food  and  drugs.  Argentina  is  an 
excellent  example  of  that.  Add  the  me- 
tric system  and  a  certain  disregard  of  the 
value  of  time,  characteristic  of  the  Latin, 
and  a  leisurely  exactness  in  applying  and 
interpreting  regulations,  and  you  begin 
to  look  through  your  export  shipment 
through  the  other  fellow's  spectacles. 

When  your  goods  arrive  at  Buenos 
Aires  they  go  through  a  routine  which  is 
elaborate  and  deliberate,  but  which  you 
can  facilitate  by  teamwork  at  many 
points. 

They  arrive  in  the  hold  of  a  ship. 
Until  the  ship  has  been  officially  entered 
at  the  customs  house,  filing  its  manifest 
in  Spanish,  no  action  can  be  taken  by 
your  customer  on  bills  of  lading  or  other 
documents  accompanying  the  shipment. 

GET  CAREFUL  CHECKING 

WITHIN  eight  days  after  the  vessel 
arrives  your  customer's  documents 
must  be  presented  at  the  customs  house — 
if  not  there  is  a  fine  of  2  per  cent  of  the 
value  of  the  merchandise.  Customs  offi- 
cials want  these  documents  for  compari- 
son with  the  ship's  manifest  and  go  over 
every  detail  of  packages,  marks,  quan- 
tity and  kind,  description  of  goods, 
names,  dates  and  the  like.  A  second  de- 
partment rereads  the  documents  to 
check  the  first  reading. 

Then  the  appraiser's  department  takes 
the  documents  and  assesses  the  duties 
and  the  actual  merchandise  is  inspected 
and  checked  again.  If  the  merchandise 
does  not  agree  with  the  documents,  the 


importer  is  fined.  Certain  "tolerances" 
are  permitted,  however,  4  per  cent  excess 
in  weights  on  textiles  and  2  per  cent  on 
other  merchandise.  But  if  merchandise 
is  short  weight  duty  at  the  declared  rate 
must  be  paid — and  the  importer  loses. 
To  make  customs  officials  vigilant  50  per 
cent  of  all  fines  go  to  the  chap  who  dis- 
covers discrepancies.  If  an  importer  re- 
fuses to  pay  fines,  his  goods  may  be 
seized.  Customs  house  details  are  usually 
handled  by  brokers  who  make  that  a  busi- 
ness. If  one  of  a  broker's  clients  refuses 
to  pay  fines,  the  broker  is  suspended.  The 
broker  is  under  bond,  so  if  he  does  not 
pay  his  bondsmen  are  subject  to  fine  or 
embargo  as  importers. 

In  addition,  all  merchandise  imported 
for  sale  and  consumption  in  Argentina 
must  be  analyzed  by  sample  in  the  cus- 
toms house  department  of  chemistry.  No 
matter  how  many  shipments  of  your  food 
or  toilet  preparations  have  previously 
been  admitted  to  Argentina,  each  new 
shipment  must  undergo  the  chemical  test, 
with  a  fee  of  about  $3,  our  money.  Ship- 
ments of  plants,  seeds,  fruits,  vegeta- 
bles and  soil  products  generally  must  be 
inspected,  with  a  fee  of  $1,  by  the  agri- 
cultural bureau  to  prevent  the  entrance 
of  plant  disease.  Medical  preparations 
must  furthermore  be  licensed  and  ap- 
proved by  the  national  board  of  health 
before  entering. 

MOTORTRUCK  VALUE  LOST 

A  LL  this  routine  naturally  takes  time ; 

but  now  comes  the  worst  delay  of 

all,  in  the  warehouse,  where  merchan- 


dise is  delivered  to  the  owner.  Every 
package  must  be  weighed  and  examined 
as  to  marks  and  compared  with  the  origi- 
nal declaration.  One  curious  reason  for 
tardiness  in  adopting  motortrucks  in 
Buenos  Aires  is  that  much  of  the  city's 
hauling  is  done  from  the  customs  house 
to  importers'  warehouses,  and  delays  in 
weighing  and  checking  at  the  customs 
house  keep  vehicles  waiting  hours  for 
miscellaneous  shipments,  and  only  the 
horse  and  cart,  with  its  comparatively 
small  investment,  can  be  tied  up  that 
way. 

To  your  shipping  clerk  the  exact 
weighing  and  marking  of  each  export 
package  may  seem  a  small  matter.  The 
difference  between  avoirdupois  and  the 
metric  system  should  not  greatly  matter, 
he  reasons — a  pound  is  a  pound  the  world 
around.  And  he  cannot  grasp  the  neces- 
sity for  getting  the  exact  minimum 
weight  of  the  merchandise  itself,  with- 
out wrappers  or  casing,  and  then  weigh- 
ing the  stuff  in  the  gross  when  it  is  ready 
for  shipment. 

But  in  far-away  Buenos  Aires,  with 
half  a  dozen  different  officials  checking 
each  other  on  all  these  weights  and 
marks,  it  is  a  good  deal  like  the  last 
weighing  and  judgment  of  souls  by  Osi- 
ris, the  Egyptian  god  of  the  underworld. 
Suppose  some  of  the  cases  have  been 
broken  open  in  transit,  accidentally  or  by 
pilferers,  and  some  of  the  goods  lost — 
during  the  recent  dock  strikes  in  Buenos 
Aires  and  Montevideo  there  were  many 
losses  of  that  sort  in  American  shipments. 
Probably  the  importer  will  have  to  pay 


PRESIDENT    IRIGOYEN    OF    ARGENTINA    AND    HIS     CABINET    OFFICERS     ATTENDING    AN     OFFICIAL,    FUNCTION 


30 


ARGENTINA 


duty  on  the  quan- 
tities declared  in 
documents,  and  so 
lose  not  only  the 
goods,  but  pay 
duty  on  his  losses. 

Exactness  i  n 
weighing  and 
marking  shipments 
and  making  out 
documents  thus 
saves  the  importer 
money  at  a  dozen 
different  points  in 
the  form  of  duties 
and  fines.  He  ap- 
preciates that,  and 
in  ordering  takes 
exactness  into  ac- 
count along  with 
quality  of  mer- 
chandise and  prices 
when  dealing  with 
different  houses 
and  nationalities. 
Even  more  wel- 
come to  him  is  the  saving  of  time  and 
annoyance,  for  exactness  facilitates  the 
clearing  of  shipments  for  which  he  may 
have  been  waiting  and  the  restocking  of 
his  empty  shelves. 

Accuracy  is  not  difficult  of  attainment. 
The  customs  regulations  of  other  coun- 
tries usually  appear  complicated  and  for- 
midable when  one  reads  them  the  first 
time — but  so  do  our  own.  If  one  can 
look  at  them  from  the  other  fellow's 
viewpoint  and  appreciate  the  value  to 
him  of  accuracy  and  decide  that  if  he  is 
going  into  this  world-trade  business  at 
all  he  is  going  in  right,  then  it  is  possi- 
ble to  find  some  one  thoroughly  versed  in 
the  details  to  take  charge  of  export  ship- 
ments. Finding  a  first-rate  export  traffic 
man  and  giving  him  supervision  of  export 
shipments  is  the  solution. 


ARTICLE  XVII 

OLD  CUSTOMS  RULE  IN 
BUENOS  AIRES  STORES 

DUENOS  AIRES,  Sept.  26.— A  New 
York  woman  arrived  in  Buenos 
Aires  after  the  voyage  of  nearly  a  month. 
She  started  out  among  the  big  shops  in 
Florida  street  with  a  long  list  of  pur- 
chases to  be  made. 

First  was  a  lace  collar.  She  saw  quite 
a  number  of  people  waiting  around  a 
counter,  but  apparently  no  clerks,  so 
began  to  inspect  goods  herself.  Making 
two  selections,  she  waited  five  minutes 
for  a  clerk,  who  made  out  a  check,  picked 
up  the  collars  and  led  her  to  a  desk, 
where  she  stood  in  line  five  minutes  more 
to  pay  for  the  merchandise.  Then  the 
clerk,  who  had  been  waiting  beside  her 
all  that  time,  led  her  to  the  wrapping 
desk,  where  the  pretty  lace  collars  were 
wound   into  a  tight  paper  knot,   like  a 


BIG   VINEYARDS    IN   MENDOZA 

schoolboy's  handkerchief,  and  handed 
over.  There  were  several  minutes'  fur- 
ther wait  at  the  wrapping  desk,  after 
which  the  clerk  went  back  to  the  lace 
counter — and  that  explains  why  there 
were  more  customers  than  clerks,  for  it 
had  taken  about  ten  minutes  for  him  to 
go  through  this  routine,  and  he  therefore 
had  a  capacity  of  about  five  or  six  cus- 
tomers an  hour. 

SELLING  SYSTEM  IS  LOOSE 

HpHAT  was  not  all.  When  the  New 
York  woman  got  home  she  found 
that  the  system  had  cheated  the  house 
by  wrapping  up  three  collars  instead  of 
two — and  they  were  real  lace!  In  this 
case  there  was  no  loss,  because  she  re- 
turned the  extra  collar.     But ! 

This  system  prevails  prettv  much 
everywhere  in  Buenos  Aires.  After  mak- 
ing three  purchases  on  her  long  list  the 
New  Yorker  found  that  it  was  lunch 
time.  Organizing  her  list  in  groups,  she 
sent  some  one  else  out  to  go  through 
the  routine  and  get  what  she  needed  with 
as  little  loss  of  time  as  possible. 

The  system  seems  to  be  an  outgrowth 
of  the  small  shop.  In  the  smaller  retail 
establishments,  with  no  rush  of  custom- 
ers, it  does  not  work  badly.  But  when 
volume  of  business  grows  and  the  store  is 
divided  into  departments  and  profit  de- 
pends upon  the  greatest  turnover  during 
a  limited  number  of  hours  during  the 
day,  something  new  in  the  way  of  equip- 
ment and  organization  is  needed. 

In  equipment  something  like  the 
Yankee  cash  carrier  and  cash-register 
system,  and  in  organization  a  flexible 
accounting  scheme  that  will  keep  track 
of  merchandise  from  the  time  it  enters 
the  store  until  it  is  sold,  and  also  keep 
track  of  employes  and  train  them. 

Another  American  woman  saw  a  piece 


of  silk  of  pretty 
pattern  in  a  Buenos 
Aires  store. 

"How  much  is 
that?"  she  asked. 
The  clerk  picked  it 
up  and  looked  for 
the  price  mark,  but 
did  not  find  any. 
He  called  another 
clerk,  who  looked 
and  scratched  his 
head.  Then  he 
called  the  floor- 
walker, who  made 
a  n  examination. 
Then  the  first  clerk 
took  the  silk  to  the 
manager  and,  after 
ten  minutes'  wait, 
came  back  without 
it. 

"We  cannot  sell 

._...  HMMBBB      you    that    piece   of 

silk,  senora,"  he 
announced,       "b  e- 

cause  we  do  not  know  the  price.    Select 

something  else." 

"But  I  don't  want  anything  else,"  in- 
sisted the  customer.     "I  want  that  piece 

of  silk  and  no  other." 

"We    cannot    sell    it,"    repeated    the 

clerk.  "Even  the  manager  does  not  know 

the  price!" 

DISPLAY  ADVERTISING 
LACKING  IN  FINISH 

TPHE  department  store  in  Buenos  Aires 
seems  to  be  still  evolving  from  the 
old-fashioned  dry-goods  store,  with  its 
preponderance  of  piece  goods  and  its 
men  "assistants,"  into  the  department 
store  as  we  know  it  in  the  United  States. 
But  it  is  working  toward  something  bet- 
ter, with  complications  that  we  have 
never  known.  Our  old-fashioned  dry- 
goods  store  became  a  department  store 
when  new  lines  of  merchandise,  such  as 
ready-to-wear  clothing,  toys,  furniture 
and  the  like,  were  added  to  create  busi- 
ness every  month  in  the  year  instead  of 
the  spring  and  fall  season,  liberal  news- 
paper advertising  being  used  to  attract 
customers.  The  Buenos  Aires  establish- 
ment is  hampered,  first,  by  Latin  polite- 
ness— most  of  the  motions  made  by  the 
clerk  in  taking  a  customer  to  the  cash 
desk  and  wrapping  counter  are  grounded 
in  courtesy.  British  influence  is  strong 
in  the  Buenos  Aires  department  store; 
and,  as  Selfridge  demonstrated  in  Lon- 
don. Yankee  retail  methods  are  more 
flexible  than  those  of  the  British  shop. 
On  top  of  that  the  Buenos  Aires  depart- 
ment store  is  usually  engaged  in  manu- 
facturing, by  reason  of  its  distance  from 
the  world's  manufacturing  centers — 
many  bulky  articles  are  made  in  the 
store's  own  factories  and  clothing  is  sent 
out  to  be  made  in  workers'  homes,  on 
something   approaching   the    "sweating" 


ARGENTINA 


31 


system.  Finally  the  department  store  is 
a  mail-order  house,  serving  rural  Argen- 
tina with  farm  supplies  through  its  cata- 
logues. 

Buenos  Aires  newspapers  carry  an  im- 
pressive display  of  department-store  ad- 
vertising each  day,  but  not  very  skillful 
by  our  standard.  "Liquidacion"  is  the 
univ  -real  word  for  "sale,"  and  no  ad- 
vertisement is  considered  complete  with- 
out it.  Very  often  the  announcement 
goes  no  farther  than  "liquidacion."  A 
whole  page  will  be  taken  to  state  that 
this  is  the  most  notable  "sale"  of  the  sea- 
son, and,  after  the  Spanish  adjectives 
have  been  exhausted  in  picturing  the 
wonderful  bargains  offered,  the  adver- 
tisement omits  all  reference  to  specific 
articles  and  prices.  Yesterday's  adver- 
tisement announced  just  as  great  a  liqui- 
dacion and  tomorrow  the  bargains  will 
be  even  greater — and  just  as  vague. 
Cases  in  which  good  values  are  adver- 
tised by  description,  picture  and  price 
are  exceptional.  The  Buenos  Aires 
shopper,  starting  downtown,  has  no  ad- 
vance information  concerning  the  day's 
offerings  at  different  shops. 

On  the  constructive  side  some  of  the 
large  stores  have  good  window  displays 
and  utilize  the  fascination  of  merchan- 
dise in  selling. 

TRADE  MISSIONARIES  NEEDED 

IN  THE  United  States  the  department 
store  outside  great  cities  has  been  de- 
veloped very  largely  by  the  educational 
work   of   manufacturers,    both    in    mer- 
chandise   and    equipment.       The   corset 
manufacturer's    representative,    for    in- 
stance, has  gone  into  the  country  depart- 
ment store  and  shown  how  to  carry  the 
broadest  range  of  stock  for  the  money 
invested  and  also  made  suggestions  about 
fitting  and  advertising.     The  manufac- 
turer   of    suits, 
waists,   paper    pat- 
terns,      novelties 
and     many     other 
kinds  of   merchan- 
dise has   done   the 
same,    and    manu- 
facturers    of     me- 
chanical equipment 
have        provided 
these    stores    with 
cash  registers,  cash 
carriers,      account- 
ing   systems,    eco- 
nomical      delivery 
service    and    other 
aids  in  doing  busi- 
ness. 

The  same  sort  of 
missionary  work  by 
American  manu- 
facturers seems  to 
be  needed  in  Latin 
America.  From 
time  to  time  Amer- 
i  c  a  n  manufac- 
turers  serving    de- 


partment stores  at  home  with  merchan- 
dise and  equipment  have  endeavored  to 
gain  a  foothold  on  the  southern  conti- 
nent, but  seldom  successfully.  Failure 
has  been  due  to  distance.  Usually  sales 
have  been  made  to  Latin-American  im- 
porters, who  distributed  goods  without 
the  merchandise  service  that  goes  with 
them  at  home.  Or  shipments  made 
direct  to  the  Latin-American  department 
store  have  been  isolated  purchases,  with 
no  permanent  connection  or  service.  Oc- 
casionally manufacturers  have  sent  rep- 
resentatives, but  for  sporadic  trips  dur- 
ing hard  times  at  home,  and  often  men 
unfamiliar  with  Spanish,  much  less  the 
different  trade  and  social  customs,  and 
the  enormous  task  of  education  involved. 

There  are  now  several  factors  favor- 
able to  strong  permanent  connections  be- 
tween the  Latin-American  department 
store  and  the  American  manufacturer  of 
merchandise  and  store  equipment. 
Yankees  are  going  to  the  southern  conti- 
nent in  greater  numbers  and  South 
Americans  are  visiting  our  country,  lay- 
ing a  foundation  of  acquaintance.  The 
American  moving-picture  film  is  every- 
where in  Latin  America,  giving  daily 
glimpses  of  American  homes,  American 
ways,  American  clothes  and  comforts. 
The  material  development  of  Latin 
America  is  raising  living  standards  and 
increasing  purchasing  power. 

If  American  manufacturers  take  ad- 
vantage of  these  influences,  they  can  un- 
questionably gain  a  permanent  foothold 
in  Latin-American  markets.  But  that 
will  be  a  matter  of  time  and  education. 
Before  goods  and  equipment  can  be  sold 
in  paying  quantities  there  must  be  mis- 
sionary work  through  the  spreading  of 
better  business  ideas.  The  job  is  a  big 
one  and  calls  for  several  years'  construc- 
tive work.     It  seems  to  be  a  job,  not  for 


the    individual    manufacturer,    but    for 
manufacturers'  associations. 


A    NEW    CHl'RCH     NOW    BEING    BUILT    IN    B'JENt 


[The  following  nine  articles  concern- 
ing Argentina  were  delayed  in  the  mails 
and  were  received  too  late  for  publica- 
tion in  regular  order.  This  accounts  for 
the  break  in  the  rotation  of  the  article 
numbers.'] 

ARTICLE  LI  I 

LATIN  AMERICA  SHIVERS 
WITH  FUEL  UNDEVELOPED 

DUENOS  AIRES,  Dec.  14  (de- 
layed).— When  the  National  City 
Bank  opened  its  branch  in  Buenos  Aires 
it  immediately  became  one  of  the  busiest 
places  in  town.  That  is,  by  all  outward 
appearances  it  seemed  to  attract  crowds 
of  depositors.  But  there  was  another 
reason  for  these  crowds.  Buenos  Aires 
in  winter  is  chill).  The  bank  occupies 
a  building  without  steam  heat.  But  a 
large  number  of  kerosene  heaters  were 
purchased  and  placed  everywhere,  and 
the  crowd  in  the  bank  consisted  largely 
of  Americans  dropping  in  to  get  warm! 
South  America  is  a  continent  with  only 
the  slenderest  fuel  resources  thus  far  de- 
veloped. In  temperate  countries  like 
Argentina  and  Chile  it  finds  difficulty  in 
keeping  itself  warm  through  the  damp 
winter,  while  in  the  tropics,  though  fuel 
is  not  needed  for  warmth,  it  is  needed 
for  transportation,  light,  power,  cooking 
and  other  purposes. 

The  scarcity  and  cost  of  fuel  are  ap- 
parent everywhere  in  Argentina.    In  the 
city  people  suffer  from  chilblains,  and  a 
hot  bath  is  an  unknown  luxury  to  masses 
of  people.     In  the  country  most  of  the 
trees  have  been  pollarded,  the  limbs  cut 
back  to  the  trunk  and  used  for  fuel — and 
this   seldom    for    heat,    but    largely    for 
cooking   purposes.       City   people   use    a 
handful     of     char- 
coal for  cooking — 
carbon   vegetal,   or 
"vegetable      coal." 
For  those  who  can 
afford  it  the  kero- 
sene   stove    and 
small    electric 
heater    furnish 
some  comfort,   but 
for   the   most   part 
the        Argentinos 
wrap  up   and  pass 
the  winter  without 
artificial   heat    and 
profess  that  heat  is 
unhealthy — though 
they     suffer     from 
colds,     tuberculosis 
and  pneumonia. 

In  normal  times 
coal  from  Europe 
or  the  United 
States  laid  down  in 
Rio  or  Buenos 
Aires  at  $8  to  $10 
a      ton      in      large 


32 


ARGENTINA 


ARGENTINA'S    HENLEY    BEUAT1 


lots  serves  to  run  the  cities  and  the  rail- 
roads. But  war  and  shipping  shortage 
raised  the  cost  of  imported  fuel  above 
$60  a  ton  in  our  money,  necessitating 
much  ingenuity  to  keep  the  railroads  run- 
ning and  turning  attention  to  the  whole 
fuel  question. 

RAILROADS  BURNED  WOOD 

TOURING  the  war  Latin  America 
learned  to  look  uoon  everything 
from  the  standpoint  of  its  British  thermal 
units.  With  coal  at  $10  a  ton,  and  often 
unobtainable,  quebracho  wood  was  sub- 
stituted on  railroads.  It  takes  two  and 
one-half  tons  of  this  hard  wood  to  equal 
a  ton  of  steam  coal,  but  with  coal  at  $60 
and  quebracho  wood  at  $1 1  a  ton  the 
latter  gave  steam  at  less  than  one-half 
the  cost.  When  corn  dropped  in  price 
owing  to  the  impossibility  of  shipping  it 
to  Europe,  this  was  purchased  and 
burned  on  some  of  the  railroads.  Que- 
bracho wood  for  cooking  purposes  rose 
in  consequence,  and  so  did  charcoal — at 
the  present  writing  there  is  complaint  in 
Buenos  Aires  that  charcoal  is  dearer  than 
bread. 

But  now  that  attention  has  been  cen- 
tered upon  this  fuel  question  it  appears 


to  be  not  so  much  one  of  scarcity  as  of 
undeveloped  resources.  Capital,  trans- 
portation and  ingenuity  are  needed  to 
keep  Latin  America  warm  in  winter  and 
provide  the  power  for  industries.  There 
is  coal  in  Chile  and  Peru.  There  is  also 
coal  in  Brazil,  and  perhaps  in  Argentina. 
While  the  railroads  of  Brazil  were  burn- 
ing quebracho  wood  at  a  cost  of  $25  to 
$30  for  the  steam  value  in  a  ton  of  Brit- 
ish or  American  coal,  there  were  depos- 
its of  Brazilian  coal  of  fairly  good  qual- 
ity simply  awaiting  the  transportation 
and  mining  engineer  to  make  it  available. 
Most  of  the  coal  thus  far  discovered  in 
Brazil  and  Argentina  is  lignite  of  rather 
poor  quality,  but  nobody  pretends  that 
either  of  these  countries  has  been  syste- 
matically prospected  or  knows  what  they 
may  yield  when  explored.  New  ways  of 
using  the  inferior  coals  of  our  own  West 
are  being  developed,  such  as  powdered 
coal  and  "collidol"  fuel,  in  which  pow- 
dered lignite  arid  petroleum  are  burned 
in  suspension.  While  Buenos  Aires  finds 
cooking  charcoal  dearer  than  bread,  the 
quebrachp  cutters  and  charcoal  burners 
of  the  interior  are  unable  to  market  their 
products  through  transportation  difficul- 
ties that  might  be  eliminated  through 
better  management. 


FALLS  GREATER  THAN  NIAGARA 

A  RGENTINA  has  oil  resources,  some 
under  development,  like  the  encour- 
aging deposits  at  Comodoro  Rivadavia, 
far  south  in  Patagonia,  and  also  indi- 
cations along  the  Andes.  The  Como- 
doro Rivadavia  field  was  discovered  in 
1907  and  taken  over  by  the  government 
for  national  development.  American  oil 
men  who  have  been  active  in  developing 
California  and  Mexican  petroleum  say 
tnat  the  nationalization  of  Argentina's 
oil  resources  furnishes  a  striking  exam- 
ple of  how  not  to  do  it.  In  Argentina 
itself  there  is  now  dissatisfaction  and  a 
movement  to  permit  development  by  pri- 
vate enterprise. 

Argentina  has  "white  coal"  in  the  falls 
of  the  Iguazu,  a  waterfall  greater  than 
Niagara,  but  1000  miles  from  Buenos 
Aires.  Engineers  estimate  that  an  in- 
vestment of  $30,000,000  to  $40,000,000 
will  make  it  possible  to  transmit  125,000 
kilowatts  of  current  to  the  Argentine 
capital  for  lighting,  power  and  indus- 
tries. If  the  currents  of  the  River  Plata 
can  be  utilized,  as  undoubtedly  they  will 
be  eventually,  they  would  provide  the 
power  which  is  so  necessary  in  building 
Argentine  industries — today  the  possibili- 
ties for  manufacturing  a  specific  article 


ARGENTINA 


33 


in  the  republic  are  measured  largely  in 
terms  of  power  cost,  which  means  im- 
ported coal  in  normal  times.  There  is 
also  water  power  in  the  western  part  of 
the  country  along  the  slopes  of  the 
Andes. 

For  years  American  and  British  coal 
has  been  going  south  to  Argentina  and 
Brazil,  making  possible  railway  and  agri- 
cultural development.  But  the  volume 
has  not  been  great,  considering  the  mag- 
nitude of  those  countries.  Therefore, 
special  facilities  for  handling  coal  on  the 
lines  of  our  Great  Lakes  traffic  are  lack- 
ing. The  stuff  has  been  coming  along  in 
a  British  tramp  or  Yankee  schooner  and 
unloaded  by  slow  methods  with  much 
hard  labor.  Before  special  coal  docks 
and  handling  machinery  can  be  installed, 
engineers  say.  there  must  be  an  increase 
in  volume. 

U.  S.  IS  COAL  COMPETITOR 

JOHN  BULL  has  had  the  coal  trade  of 
Latin  America,  partly  because  he  had 
the  ships  and  bought  Argentine  wheat 
and  hides  for  return  cargo,  and  also 
because  he  had  business  connections  on 
the  southern  continent.  The  Argentine 
and  Brazilian  railways  are  largely  Brit- 
ish, and  naturally  deal  with  the  country 
where  they  are  owned.  The  Germans 
had  some  coal  trade  before  the  war,  sell- 
ing to  German  connections  in  South 
America.  Our  sales  of  coal  were  com- 
paratively modest,  partly  because  we 
lacked  ships  and  coal  companies  operat- 
ing on  the  southern  continent.  The 
meat  packers,  comparatively  recent  arriv- 
als, were  the  only  large  American  users 
of  coal.  On  top  of  this  there  was  a  dis- 
tinct disadvantage  in  the  popular  belief 
that  our  coal  is  inferior  to  British. 

During  the  war, 
however,  the 
United  States  de- 
veloped a  coal 
trade  with  the 
southern  continent 
limited  only  by 
shipping  facilities, 
and  at  present, 
with  the  increase  in 
miners'  wages  in 
England,  there 
seems  to  be  every 
prospect  of  close 
rivalry  in  coal.  Not 
only  England  and 
the  United  States, 
but  probably  Ger- 
many and  South 
Africa,  will  com- 
pete for  the  mar- 
ket. It  will  be  a 
fortunate  thing  for 
Latin  America  as 
well  as  the  compet- 
ing countries  if  the 
trade  is  developed, 
not  along  cut- 
throat   prices    and 


shipping  rates,  but  with  a  view  to  in- 
creasing the  tonnage,  handling  it  by 
automatic  machinery,  stabilizing  prices 
to  the  consumer  and  making  fuel  more 
generally  available  to  the  average  family. 
A  very  moderate  quantity  of  coal  would 
keep  the  Buenos  Aires  family  warm 
through  the  winter  and  cure  its  chilbains 
and  colds.  There  is  no  reason,  either, 
why  coal  should  not  be  laid  down  for 
domestic  consumption  in  the  outlying 
towns  and  at  the  big  ranches.  Argentina 
and  Brazil  are  not  in  any  sense  different 
from  our  own  "coalless"  Northwest, 
where  ship's  and  machinery  and  organ- 
ization of  traffic  have  made  coal  avail- 
able everywhere  for  domestic  use,  and 
built  cities  and  industries — there  is  a 
little  matter  of  longer  distance  to  be 
.overcome,  that  is  all. 


ARTICLE  LIII 

BUENOS  AIRES  HAS  NEED 
FOR  U.  S.  TYPE  BUILDINGS 

J3UENOS  AIRES,  Dec.  15  (de- 
layed).— When  the  Spaniards  estab- 
lished cities  throughout  the  region  that 
Is  now  Latin  America  they  built  in  the 
fepanish  style,  with  thick  walls,  fifteen- 
I'oot  ceilings  and  narrow  streets.  Thick 
Avails  shut  out   the   heat,   high   ceilings 

give  circulation  of  air  and  narrow  streets 
Vhield  people  from  the  tropical  sun.  The 


CRACK    OARSMEN    OF    BUENOS    AIRES,    WHERE    ROWING   IS  A   POPULAR    SPORT 


Spaniard  also  built  his  house  around  a 
patio,  or  central  courtyard,  which  was 
his  flower  garden,  his  front  lawn  anil 
general  beauty  spot. 

For  most  of  the  Latin-American 
countries  this  was  quite  right,  but  not 
for  Buenos  Aires,  which  has  a  temper- 
ate climate.  And  Buenos  Aires  is  pay- 
ing heavily  for  this  imposition  of  an  un- 
suitable architectural  scheme.  It  is  pay- 
ing millions  of  pesos  to  cut  avenues 
through  the  narrow  streets  of  its  old 
Spanish  town,  and  also  paying  in  other 
ways  not  so  obvious. 

There  are  only  two  apartment  houses 
in  Buenos  Aires  with  low  ceilings  in  the 
American  style,  and  only  a  couple  of 
office  buildings.  Every  hotel  has  high 
ceilings,  and  so  do  all  the  business  and 
residential  structures. 

Virtually  all  Buenos  Aires  buildings  of 
every  sort  have  thick  walls  made  of  very 
rough  brick  and  covered  with  stucco  or 
cement,  to  resemble  stone.  In  a  hot  cli- 
mate this  would  be  ideal,  but  in  the  damp 
winter  of  Buenos  Aires  the  thick  walls 
of  Babylonian  masonry  gather  moisture. 
Dampness!  Did  you  ever  ascertain  how 
much  water  a  brick  could  absorb?  It 
is  about  a  pint,  and  in  houses  that  are 
unheated  all  winter  long  with  no  oppor- 
tunity to  dry  out,  you  can  imagine  what 
living  within  these  damp,  sodden  walls 
means. 

WELCOME  AMERICAN  HOMES 

AS  FOR  the  lofty  ceilings,  they  are 
wasteful  of  housing  space  in  a  city 
where  land  values  are  high  and  space  ex- 
tremely scarce.  Buenos  Aires  today  is 
painfully  underbuilt.  The  hotels  are  full 
to  overcrowding.  Office  space  is  virtually 
unobtainable.  The  American  firm  newly 
arrived  in  the  Ar- 
gentine capital  is 
lucky  to  find  one 
or  two  small  offices 
with  a  search  war- 
rant, and  no  tele- 
phone can  be  ob- 
tained within  six 
months.  As  for 
an  apartment  or  a 
house,  you  may  se- 
cure one  if  luckily 
some  other  Ameri- 
can has  been  trans- 
ferred and  must 
give  up  his  home. 
When  Buenos 
Aires  begins  to 
grow  again  and 
accommodate  i  t  s 
surplus  population, 
it  is  advisable  that 
it  grow  upward. 
With  American 
steel  construction, 
low  ceilings  and 
thin  walls,  the 
space  occupied  by  a 
five-story     hotel 


34 


ARGENTINA 


with  100  rooms,  arranged  around  a  patio, 
would  give  a  ten-story  structure  of  the 
same  height  with  fully  300  rooms.  A 
large  number  of  the  rooms  would  face 
outward.  The  steam  heating  of  such  a 
hostelry  would  be  fairly  economical  even 
with  coal  at  $20  to  $25  a  ton,  because 
heat  would  not  be  wasted  in  the  vast 
heights  overhead,  and  the  walls  would 
not  gather  and  hold  dampness.  This  is 
quite  as  true  of  apartment  houses.  Build- 
ing in  the  old  Spanish  style,  the  rooms 
are  enormous  and  much  space  is  wasted 
in  corridors  and  the  patio.  It  takes  the 
skill  of  the  New  York  or  Philadelphia 
or  Chicago  builder  to  construct  good 
apartments,  and  the  experience  of  archi- 
tects in  securing  labor-saving  arrange- 
ment. If  the  average  Buenos  Aires  fam- 
ily could  move  into  an  American  apart- 
ment with  low  ceilings  and  medium- 
sized  rooms,  the  kitchen  placed  near  the 
dining-room  instead  of  far  apart,  cook- 
ing and  serving  meals  would  be  easier, 
and  the  staff  of  servants  could  be  cut 
down. 


"conventillo,"  which  is  a  barracks  built 
around  a  central  court,  one  to  four  rooms 
for  each  family,  according  to  the  rent 
the  tenant  is  able  to  pay.  Such  of  the 
old  one-storied  Spanish  houses  as  remain 
have  been  converted  into  conventillos — 
there  is  a  very  good  specimen  right  across 
the  street  from  the  Argentine  Capitol. 
The  problem  of  housing  the  working 
classes  and  improving  their  comfort  and 
health  through  building  projects  appears 
not  to  have  been  studied  very  deeply  as 
yet  in  Buenos  Aires. 

The  Argentinos  are  really  living  in 
traditional  houses.  The  central  patio  has 
often  disappeared  in  fact,  owing  to  the 
cost  of  land,  but  the  local  architect  and 
builder  invariably  incorporate  its  shadow 
in  the  form  of  a  central  room  with  a  hole 
in  the  roof,  cold  in  winter  and  hot  in 
summer.  Every  Buenos  Aires  flat,  how- 
ever small,  must  have  its  drawing-room, 
which  corresponds  to  the  parlor  in  our 
own  enlightened  land,  which  is  usually 
shut  up  in  the  same  way  and  used  only 
for  company — a  relic  of  the  grand  houses 


ARGENTINE    FARMERS    GOING    TO   MARKET 


One  day  the  writer  took  tea  at  the 
home  of  an  American  living  at  one  of 
the  two  low-ceiling  apartment  houses  in 
Buenos  Aires.  There  were  a  number 
of  Argentine  people  present,  men  and 
women.  Their  delight  over  the  com- 
pact arrangement  was  striking,  and  sug- 
gested that  thousands  of  Buenos  Aires 
families  are  ready  to  move  into  such 
apartments  as  we  know  at  home  once 
they  see  them  and  catch  the  Yankee  idea. 

SOME  OF  CHIEF  INVESTMENTS 

TN  SEPARATE  houses  it  is  the  same. 

There  seems  to  be  a  great  opportunity 
for  American  builders  to  construct 
bungalows  in  the  suburbs  at  middling 
prices,  perhaps  for  sale  on  the  install- 
ment plan. 

And  with  houses  for  the  poor  it  is 
still  the  same.  An  elevator  man  in  Bue- 
nos Aires  earns  the  princely  sum  of  sixty 
pesos  monthly,  less  than  $30,  and  a  gov- 
ernment clerk's  envied  job  is  worth 
eighty  to  a  hundred  pesos  monthly.  This 
portion  of  the  population  must  live  in  a 


of  more  spacious  days.  Living  accom- 
modations for  servants  are  of  the  barest 
description.  On  the  whole,  without  sug- 
gesting that  the  Argentino's  conception 
of  a  dwelling  is  wrong,  there  seems  to  be 
opportunity  to  show  him  some  of  the 
convenience,  comfort  and  compactness 
in  dwellings  that  we  Yankees  have 
worked  out  during  the  growth  of  our 
cities  in  the  last  generation. 

The  American  real  estate  man  would 
be  interested  in  studying  Buenos  Aires 
from  the  development  standpoint.  It 
seems  to  be  a  city  of  active  real  estate 
speculation,  with  periodical  booms,  but 
without  the  building  activities  that  ac- 
company our  real  estate  booms  at  home, 
and  which  are  to  a  very  large  degree 
shaped  by  real  estate  men  and  builders 
with  constructive  ideas.  Land  and  build- 
ings are  traded  in  by  Buenos  Aires  peo- 
ple, but  mainly  for  a  rise  in  prices  rather 
than  new  construction.  Land,  cattle 
and  mortgages  are  the  chief  investment 
of  the  Argentine  people,  and  wealth  put 
into  city  houses  is  considered  secure. 


BUILDING  EXPANSION  DUE 

VyHEN  war  came  in  1914  it  knocked 
the  bottom  out  of  a  lively  real 
estate  boom  in  Buenos  Aires.  Foreign 
capital  was  no  longer  available  for  con- 
struction and  building  stopped.  Like 
every  other  city,  however,  Buenos  Aires 
continued  to  grow  during  the  war. 
Wealthy  Argentinos  who  had  lived 
abroad  hurried  back.  Then  came  the 
business  man  needed  to  divert  Argentine 
products  from  peace  to  war  character 
and  handle  them,  and  today  every  ship 
lands  Americans,  Britons,  French,  Ital- 
ians and  Germans  coming  to  help  the  re- 
public resume  its  normal  life.  During 
the  next  five  years  Buenos  Aires  should 
undergo  a  great  expansion,  and  the 
Yankee  builder  and  architect  can  un- 
doubtedly participate. 

In  the  Argentine  countryside  there  is 
also  room  for  improvement  in  building 
and  housing  conditions.  The  owner  of 
a  big  estancia.has  his  comfortable  home, 
of  course.  But  his  farm  laborers,  and, 
even  worse,  his  tenants  on  short-lease 
land,  often  live  in  a  shanty  made  of  mud 
and  straw,  with  the  earth  for  a  floor. 
Short  leases  of  farm  land  have  created 
(two  classes  of  country  people  distinctly 
harmful  to  Argentina — the  absentee  land 
owner  and  the  tenant  who  mines  the  soil 
.instead  of  farming  it.  The  latter's  home 
is  simply  a  camp,  and  his  family  has  lit- 
tle more  than  animal  comforts. 

But  in  some  sections  the  Argentine 
countryside  is  now  being  cut  up  into 
farms  like  our  own.  If  the  tenant  is  a 
good  farmer,  he  makes  money  and  pur- 
chases land,  and  then  proceeds  to  build 
himself  a  real  house,  and  plant  fruit 
trees,  and  farm  in  a  rotation.  And  it 
the  big  estancia  owner  lives  on  his  50,000 
or  100,000  acres  and  has  the  good  ot 
Argentina  at  heart,  he  can  be  interested 
in  building  better  houses  for  his  labor- 
ers and  providing  a  school  for  their  chil- 
dren. Just  before  the  war  a  Swedish 
company  began  introducing  knocked- 
down  wooden  houses,  the  parts  being 
made  in  Sweden  and  shipped  to  Argen- 
tina for  sale  to  farmers.  If  this  idea 
was  carried  out  in  Argentina  on  lines 
developed  by  Americans,  who  have  popu- 
larized knocked-down  houses  the  last  five 
years,  aided  by  descriptive  advertising,  it 
would  probably  be  successful,  and  sell 
American  lumber  to  Argentine  farmers 
in  a  most  economical  way. 


ARTICLE  LIV 

LACK  OF  VISION  RETARDS 
U.S.-LATIN- AMERICAN  TRADE 

gUENOS  AIRES,  Dec.  16  (delayed). 
— An  American  manufacturing  rep- 
resentative in  Buenos  Aires  has  that 
territory  for  an  attractive  novelty — a 
patent  stationery  device  which  is  thor- 
oughly American  in  design  and  practica- 
bility.    After  several  months'   work  he 


ARGENTINA 


35 


interested  a  large  Argentine  wholesaler 
in  stocking  the  novelty  and  giving  it  wide 
distribution  throughout  Buenos  Aires. 
It  was  a  $10,000  order,  but  with  a  con- 
dition— that  the  manufacturer  spend 
$2000  advertising  the  article  to  the  Ar- 
gentine consumer.  This  proposal  was 
cabled  to  New  York.  More  than  a 
month  passed  before  an  answer  came,  not 
by  cable,  but  in  a  letter,  which  said: 

"We  are  making  no  advertising  ap- 
propriation for  foreign  countries  this 
year,  and  before  doing  so  the  Argentine 
market  would  have  to  send  us  at  least 
$50,000  in  orders." 

Let  us  view  this  episode  from  Buenos 
Aires  and  see  if  it  cannot  be  laid  before 
the  American  manufacturer — hundreds 
of  him,  thousands  of  him — in  a  way  to 
strike  his  imagination.  For  lack  of  im- 
agination hampers  us  more  than  any 
other  one  factor  in  developing  world 
trade.  If  we  can  get  imagination,  all  the 
shipping  and  packing  and  credit  details 
should  come  naturally. 

This  manufacturer  spends  at  home 
many  thousands  of  dollars  for  advertis- 
ing, including  $5000  pages  in  the  Satur- 
day Evening  Post.  His  product  is  in- 
genious and  new,  and  so  requires  the 
printed  word  for  explanation.  It  is  a 
moderate-priced  article,  so  he  requires 
volume  of  business.  It  will  not  stand  a 
heavy  selling  expense,  and  at  home  he 
knows  that  the  printed  word  is  the 
cheapest  salesman.  Like  many  other 
Yankee  notions,  it  is  an  article  that  de- 
mands service  to  customers  after  pur- 
chase, with  supplies  available  every- 
where. 

VISUALIZATION  IS  LACKING 

"LJE  WOULD  not  think  of  demanding 
$50,000  worth  of  orders  from  Kan- 
sas City  before  advertising  an  unknown 
product,  leaving  the  salesman  and  the 
retailer  to  bear  all  the  burden  of  intro- 
duction. He  wouldn't  do  it  simply  be- 
cause Kansas  City  would  not  buy  of  him 
on  such  terms. 
Yet  he  is  unable  to 
visualize  Buenos 
Aires  as  he  does 
Kansas  City,  and 
allow  for  the  dif- 
ference in  lan- 
guage, consuming 
viewpoint  and 
ways  of  doing 
business.  Appar- 
ently he  is  suffi- 
ciently interested 
in  Buenos  Aires  to 
have  made  a  start 
in  getting  busi- 
ness. Yet  he  coolly 
looks  at  the 
Argentine  capital 
from  the  stand- 
point of  the  size  of 
i  t  s    introductory 


ARGENTINE 


SCHOOL      KIDDIE      IN     HISTOR- 
ICAL   TABLEAU 


orders,  and  if  there  are  not  enough  im- 
mediate dollars  in  the  proposition  says 
he  does  not  want  to  play  the  game. 

Two  thousand  dollars  of  that  first 
order  would  take  all  his  profit,  and  per- 
haps a  little  more.  But  by  educational 
advertising  in  magazines,  backed  later 
with  cards  in  the  street  cars,  he  could 
reach  the  real  Argentine  public,  and  set 
up  a  demand  which  would  lead  retailers 
to  stock  his  product  and  display  it  and 
sell  it. 

In  the  United  States  he  advertises  lib- 
erally because  he  has  the  competition  of 
other  concerns  making  similar  novelties. 
Without   advertising  he    would    be    no- 


CASA    ROSARIO.    ARGENTINA'S    WHITE    HOUSE    AT    NIGHT 


where.  It  is  as  definite  an  item  in  his 
method  and  cost  of  doing  business  as 
rent  or  labor. 

In  the  Argentine  he  can  advertise 
without  competition,  because  his  is  the 
first  Yankee  notion  of  its  kind  in  that 
field.  He  has  a  chance  to  get  in  on  the 
ground  floor,  which  would  be  priceless 
to  the  United  States  today.  When  Brit- 
ish, French  and  German  competition  in 
staple  articles  begins  again  in  South 
America,  many  of  our  manufacturers 
will  lose  trade  because  they  cannot  sell 
as  cheaply  or  adapt  their  goods  to  Latin- 
American  requirements.  But  his  is  a 
typically  American  device  which  has  no 
competition.  The  other  nations  do  not 
understand  American  consumer  adver- 
tising and  service  as  well  as  we.  Yet  he 
dilly-dallies  about  tackling  a  plain  job  of 
building  business  from  small  beginnings, 
a  job  extending  over  two  or  three  years, 
after  which  the  market  would  be  his. 

PRINTED  WORD  APPLIES 

A/IORE  than  that,  he  is  breaking  the 
heart  of  his  Argentine  representa- 
tive. The  latter  is  thoroughly  at  home 
on  the  southern  continent.  When  he 
arrived  in  Buenos  Aires,  learning  that 
somebody  had  registered  the  manufac- 
turer's trademark  and  that  it  could  not 
be  used  by  the  rightful  owner,  this  rep- 
resentative ingeniously  patented  the  arti- 
cle in  Argentina.  Moreover,  as  the 
trademark  is  an  American  term,  not  com- 
prehensible unless  one  knows  our  lan- 
guage, he  had  the  shrewdness  to  translate 
the  term  into  Spanish  and  register  that, 
decidedly  an  improvement  in  every  way. 
It  cost  him  a  couple  of  hundred  dollars, 
which  the  manufacturer  in  New  York 
refused  to  pay. 

Argentinos  like  Yankees,  and  also  like 
Yankee  notions.  A  simple  little  novelty 
of  the  kind  so  common  at  home,  seen  the 
first  time,  will  delight  an  Argentino  like 
a  child. 

But  little  trading  is  done  by  Argen- 
tinos themselves. 
The  importers  and 
wholesalers  and 
merchants  are 
Spaniards,  Italians, 
Germans.  Apart 
from  certain  prej- 
udices against  our- 
selves, they  are  not 
accustomed  to  do- 
i  n  g  introductory 
work  for  manu- 
facturers —  and 
why  should  they? 
The  direct  connec- 
tion between  the 
Argentine  constru- 
ing public's  liking 
for  Yankee  notions 
and  the  notions 
themselves  is 
through   the  print- 


36 


ARGENTINA 


THE  ARGENTINE 
MONUMENT  TO  THE  ARMY  OF 

ed  word,  just  as  it  is  at  home.  American 
business  men  can  see  that  at  home — why 
can't  they  see  it  in  Buenos  Aires,  Rio, 
Montevideo,  Santiago  and  Lima? 
Another  story  of  the  same  kind: 
The  best  old-fashioned  razor  sold  in 
Argentina  before  the  war  was  German, 
with  a  thoroughly  established  trademark. 
The  next  best  razor  is  an  American  prod- 
uct, being  of  as  good  quality  and  decid- 
edly lower  in  price  than  one  British 
razor  of  reputation.  A  large  American 
cutlery  manufacturer  also  has  his  repre- 
sentative in  Buenos  Aires,  and  the  latter 
is  anxious  to  improve  the  priceless  oppor- 
tunity to  establish  his  razor  in  that  mar- 
ket before  the  Germans  are  able  to  come 
back.  The  quick  way,  the  right  way, 
the  American  way  to  do  this  is  through 
a  consumer  advertising  campaign. 

TRUSTS  EXAMPLE  OF  EFFICIENCY 

V/ET  the  cutlery  manufacturer  seems 
unable  to  see  it.  His  opinion  of  the 
Argentine  market  is  based  entirely  upon 
the  size  of  the  orders  coming  in.  He 
cannot  comprehend  introductory  orders 
or  an  investment  of  money  for  advertis- 
ing or  constructive  work  over  two  or 
three  years  to  build  permanent  trade. 
Worse  than  that,  he  cannot  understand 
the  necessity  for  filling  orders  promptly, 
and  his  representative  spends  much  time 
going  around  among  Buenos  Aires  mer- 
chants explaining  why  goods  do  not  ar- 
rive. 

One  day  last  spring  a  Buenos  Aires 
merchant  showed  this  representative  a 
simnle  metal  guard  which,  clamped  on  an 
old-fashioned  razor,  gave  it  safety  fea- 
tures. 

"Let  me  send  that  sample  to  our  fac- 
tory," suggested  the  American,  "and  we 
will  make  it  for  you." 


S  EAGLE  NEST 

THE  ANDES,  NEAR  MENDOZA 

"But  it  is  the  only  sample  I  have — the 
only  one  in  Buenos  Aires,"  replied  the 
merchant. 

Upon  assurance  that  it  would  be 
faithfully  returned  he  got  the  device  and 
sent  it  to  New  York.  Four  months 
later,  in  reply  to  repeated  inquiries,  the 
home  office  wrote:  "We  sent  that  guard 
to  the  factory  to  see  what  they  could  do 
about  it,  and  they  have  not  given  us  any 
definite  answer — in  fact,  we  are  afraid 
they  have  forgotten  about  it.  Any  fur- 
ther information  we  can  get  we  will 
gladly  let  you  have."  And  the  sample 
has  never  been  returned. 

There  are  hundreds  of  American  man- 
ufacturers like  this.  And  they  are  rock- 
ing the  world  trade  boat.  Every  case  of 
the  kind  creates  bad  feeling  and  distrust 
of  American  business  ability  abroad. 

The  most  conspicuous  world  trade  suc- 
cesses have  been  made  by  our  large  cor- 
porations— the  trusts.  Trusts  may  be 
good  or  bad,  but  they  seldom  dabble. 
Having  laid  out  a  course  of  action  at 
home  or  abroad,  they  put  money  behind 
it  and  men  and  work  and  time.  They 
go  abroad,  set  up  a  stock  of  goods  handy 
to  their  customers  and  at  a  stroke  over- 
come all  the  handicaps  of  distance  and 
the  misunderstandings  that  arise  when 
business  is  done  through  middlemen, 
often  antagonistic  or  self-interested.  On 
the  ground  in  Buenos  Aires  it  looks  very 
much  as  though  our  trusts  alone  had  busi- 
ness imagination.  And  business  imagina- 
tion more  than  any  one  thing  is  needed 
for  the  success  of  smaller  American  con- 
cerns in  world  markets — the  sort  of  im- 
agination that  they  have  to  have  at  home 
to  succeed  in  trading  with  Pittsburgh, 
Minneapolis,  New  Orleans  and  Seattle. 


ARTICLE  LV 

ADVERTISING  OF  YANKEES 
APPEALS  TO  THE  ARGENTINO 

TDUENOS  AIRES,  Dec.  17  (delayed). 
— In  the  United  States  advertisers 
appeal  to  the  public  along  different  lines 
of  self-interest,  such  as  ambition  for  suc- 
cess, pride  in  appearance,  love  of  home 
and  so  forth. 

In  the  Argentine  people  are  different, 
yet  virtuallv  all  the  familiar  lines  of  aD- 
peal  at  home  will  be  effective  when  one 
understands  the  Argentino  and  gets  close 
to  him. 

The  Argentino  is  mentally  a  Yankee — 
quick  to  see  a  point  in  anything.  He 
lives,  like  ourselves,  in  a  country  of  con- 
tinental magnitude,  waiting  everywhere 
for  material  development.  But  he  is 
different  from  us  in  that  he  has  had  no 
facilities  for  technical  training — no  busi- 
ness colleges,  no  engineering  schools,  no 
private  schools  of  the  kind  that  take  our 
own  wild  boys  and  set  them  to  work 
doing  things  and  help  them  discover  their 
own  solid  foundation  of  common  sense. 
Talk  with  the  Argentino  and  you  will 
find  him  anxious  to  emulate  the  Yankees 
in  developing  his  agriculture  and  indus- 
try and  bringing  some  order  into  the 
social  chaos  of  his  capital  and  his  coun- 
tryside. But  he  has  been  so  accustomed 
to  having  things  done  for  him  by  the 
British,  the  French,  the  Italians,  die 
Spanish  and  the  Yankees  that  he  must 
begin  at  the  beginning  in  getting  facts 
and  thinking  out  plans. 

A  patent  Yankee  lead  pencil  is  being 
introduced  in  Buenos  Aires  by  Senor 
Jose  Aedo,  a  Cuban,  with  twenty-four 
years'  experience  in  the  United  States 
and  an  instinctive  liking  for  Yankee  ad- 
vertising methods.  In  the  United  States 
people  are  quick  to  see  practicality.  In 
Argentina  they  are  just  as  quick,  but 
must  be  shown  in  greater  detail  because 
they  lack  the  training  of  our  own  public 
in  practical  matters.  They  admire  the 
Yankee  for  his  ingenuity,  look  to  him  for 
clever  devices  and  trust  his  practical 
knowledge  implicitly — the  finest  possi- 
ble foundation  for  American  advertising 
in  Argentina.  The  company  making  this 
pencil'  has  an  advertising  department  at 
home,  but  Senor  Aedo  felt  that  the  Ar- 
gentinos  could  be  reached  better  through 
a  circular  prepared  on  the  spot  by  a  man 
who  knows  the  people  and  the  country. 
He  took  a  cut  sent  from  the  United 
States  showing  the  interior  mechanism  of 
the  pencil  and  explained  in  Spanish  each 
detail,  with  arrows  pointing  to  the  exact 
spot.  On  top  of  that  he  called  in  a 
Buenos  Aires  artist  and  had  him  draw 
three  pictures  of  hands  filling  and  using 
the  pencil,  because  these  were  operations 
likely  to  be  done  the  wrong  way  unless 
explained  in  A  B  C  terms.  This  circu- 
lar was  then  distributed  and  created  a 
good  demand  for  the  novelty. 


ARGENTINA 


37 


To  the  Yankee  it  often  appeared  that 
time  meant  nothing  to  the  Argentino, 
for  he  will  often  be  late  in  keeping  ap- 
pointments, and  spends  much  of  his 
working  day  in  cafes.  Yet  time-saving 
as  an  advertising  appeal  has  its  effect.  An- 
other of  Senor  Aedo's  circulars  was  com- 
piled for  wire  wheels,  made  for  Ford 
cars.  "El  Fordo"  is  used  by  many  Bue- 
nos Aires  merchants  in  delivery  service. 
A  circular  pointing  out  losses  of  time 
where  chauffeurs  had  to  stop  for  punc- 
tures with  the  old-fashioned  wheel  hit 
exactly  the  right  note  and  brought  many 
orders  for  the  equipment  from  commer- 
cial houses. 

ADVERTISING  BROADENS  NATURE 

I^LOORS  in  Buenos  Aires  are  waxed 
frequently  by  men  who  put  big  mops 
upon  their  feet  and  polish  the  floor  with 
a  tango  step  that  takes  lots  of  time  and 
muscle.  Yankee  oil  mops  would  do  just 
as  good  a  job  in  a  few  minutes  and  are 
for  sale  in  Buenos  Aires,  but  nobody  has 
yet  begun  advertising  to  show  Argentinos 
their  use.  With  furniture  polish  it  is 
the  same.  Tell  the  janitor  that  you 
want  your  desk  polished  and  he  will  ap- 
pear with  pumice  powder,  rags,  wax,  a 
whole  kit  of  accessories  and  get  ready  for 
a  half  day's  work.  When  you  show  him 
how  to  do  a  quick  job  with  Yankee  fur- 
niture polish  he  sees  the  point  at  once — 
"Ai,  muy  pronto, 
muy  practice" 

Ambition  is  an- 
other strong  mov- 
ing force  with  the 
Argentino,  and, 
while  familiar  to 
us,  is  so  new  to 
him  that  there  is 
a  little  pathos  in 
his  viewpoint. 
Thousands  of 
young  clerks  in 
Buenos  Aires  busi- 
ness houses  slave 
along  blindly,  ex- 
pecting to  be  clerks 
all  their  lives,  be- 
cause nobody  has 
ever  told  them 
through  advertis- 
ing how  to  get  on 
in  the  world  by 
study  and  self-im- 
provement. In  the 
United  States  we 
have  innumer- 
able correspond- 
ence schools,  busi- 
ness schools,  busi- 
ness books  and 
other  roads  to  op- 
portunity, adver- 
tised in  the  most 
direct  way.  Hard- 
ly anything  of  the 
kind  is  known  yet 
in  Argentina.  One 


of  our  big  correspondence  schools  has 
opened  an  office  there  and  the  young 
Argentino  is  rapidly  grasping  the  idea. 
But  thus  far  it  has  not  undertaken  ex- 
tensive advertising  of  the  kind  it  does 
at  home. 

Pride  in  personal  appearance  is  an- 
other characteristic  of  the  people,  both 
men  and  women,  but  undeveloped  from 
the  advertising  standpoint.  Yankee 
clothes,  backed  by  Yankee  advertising, 
would  overcome  the  Argentine  shyness 
about  color,  help  men  of  moderate  means 
dress  better  and,  most  of  all,  get  the  girls 
out  of  their  expensive  and  eternal  black 
clothes,  which  are  like  a  shroud  to  their 
native  good  looks. 

Family  and  the  home  mean  more  to 
Argentinos  than  even  to  ourselves.  Ar- 
gentine families  are  not  only  large,  but 
cling  together  with  the  greatest  loyalty. 
Twenty  relatives  will  come  down  to  the 
boat  and  spend  an  hour  bidding  good-by 
to  Jose,  embracing  and  weeping.  You 
would  think  Jose  was  going  to  the  North 
Pole.  Actually  he  is  only  going  over  to 
Montevideo  for  the  night,  and  the  whole 
family  will  be  down  to  welcome  him 
back  day  after  tomorrow.  In  the  beau- 
tiful Recoleta  Cemetery,  in  Buenos 
Aires,  the  dead  lie  in  beautiful  chapels, 
with  flowers  and  lights  and  chairs,  where 
the   living   frequently   visit   the   dead — 


INTERIOR  OF  A  SAN  MARTIN  CART  FACTORY 


death  itself  cannot  sever -the  beautiful 
family  ties  of  the  Latin. 

The  Argentino  is  a  free  spender.  Lack 
of  thrift  has  been  one  of  his  shortcom- 
ings, although  he  has  lately  shown  him- 
self quite  capable  of  being  thrifty  when 
the  idea  is  put  over  to  him  in  the  form 
of  Yankee  advertising.  Even  servants 
ride  first-class  on  the  railroads,  and  the 
poor  clerk  with  only  ten  cents  in  his 
pocket  will  spend  it  for  a  polish  on  his 
rundown  shoes  rather  than  a  cup  of  cof- 
fee. Argentinos  are  also  shrewd,  and 
it  is  said  that  the  get-rich-quick  promoter 
has  never  made  headway  in  Argentina 
simply  because  the  people  quickly  see 
through  his  schemes. 

There  are  several  ways  in  which 
American  concerns  can  advertise  their 
products  in  the  Argentine.  One  is  to 
send  Spanish  literature  to  their  agents  in 
Buenos  Aires.  Another  is  to  use  Argen- 
tine newspapers  and  magazines  through 
some  advertising  agency  at  home  which 
has  Buenos  Aires  connections.  Another 
is  to  deal  with  a  Buenos  Aires  advertis- 
ing agency  direct,  and  still  another  is  to 
hand  an  advertising  appropriation  over 
to  one's  Buenos  Aires  branch  manager 
and  let  him  spend  the  money  on  the  spot. 
The  latter  method  is  by  far  the  best, 
provided  one  has  an  alert  branch  man- 
ager in  Argentina,  but  can  hardly  be  rec- 
ommended in  the 
case  of  many 
American  products 
which  are  handled 
indiscriminately  by 
Argentine  import- 
ers, because  many 
of  the  importers 
lack  knowledge  of 
American  advertis- 
ing methods,  being 
of  other  nationali- 
ties, and  handle  a 
great  many  lines, 
so  they  cannot  give 
proper  attention  to 
a  single  manufac- 
turer's output. 

LANGUAGE  IS 
ELASTIC 

QNE  of  the  best 
advertising  cam- 
paigns now  run- 
n  i  n  g  in  Buenos 
Aires  periodicals  is 
that  of  a  concern 
with  its  branch  in 
the  Argentine  capi- 
tal in  charge  of  an 
American  who  has 
been  there  for 
years.  Copie*  of 
■  advertising  used  at 
home  are  sent  from 
the  states  in  Eng- 
lish and  the  whole 
office    force,    made 


38 


ARGENTINA 


up  of  Americans  and  Argentinos,  make 
translations  into  Spanish.  These  trans- 
lations are  then  compared  in  conference, 
and  good  phrases  chosen  by  agreement 
and  awkward  ones  eliminated,  and  adver- 
tising put  into  the  Argentine  language. 

For  there  is  an  Argentine  language. 
It  is  rich  in  local  expressions,  and  these, 
like  our  own  Yankee  idioms  and  slang, 
make  a  direct  appeal  to  readers  which  it 
is  impossible  to  incorporate  into  adver- 
tising translated  in  the  United  States, 
probably  by  a  Spaniard  or  a  Latin  Ameri- 
can who  has  never  been  in  Argentina. 

Buenos  Aires  ad- 
vertising agencies 
are  equipped  to 
turn  Yankee  ad- 
vertising into  the 
local  idiom  and  to 
make  pictures  with 
Argentine  char- 
acter. By  their 
knowledge  of  the 
country  they  are 
often  able  to  pre- 
pare copy  with 
something  ap- 
proaching Yankee 
advertising  clever- 
ness. One  phrase 
frequently  on  the 
lips  of  the  Argen- 
tine people  is 
"Crea  los."  It 
means  "Believe 
us,"  and  when 
adapted  to  a  recent 
advertising  cam- 
paign proved  most 
forceful  and  effec- 
tive. Contrast  such 
local  tang  in  ad- 
vertising with  the 
bull  made  in  the 
heading  of  an  ad- 
vertisement recent- 
ly translated  into 
Spanish  at  home 
for  a  big  eastern 
house,  which 
claimed  that  the 
concern  was 
"primitiva"  in  its 
line  —  "primera." 
But  he  actually 
called  it  primitive! 

Advertising  prepared  in  the  United 
States  has  one  advantage — that  of  strik- 
ing typographical  appearance.  The  Bue- 
nos Aires  newspapers  are  solid  masses  of 
closely  set  advertising,  a  great  deal  of  it 
classified,  and  while  they  are  now  experi- 
menting commendably  with  Yankee  idea? 
in  their  headlines  and  news  arrangement, 
the  Yankee  layout  of  advertising  has  not 
yet  been  taken  up.  Where  we  make  ad- 
vertising easy  to  read,  the  Argentine 
reader  of  newspapers,  and  to  a  great 
extent  also  the  magazines,  has  to  work 
hard    for  his   information.      And   while 


there  are  many  clever  artists  in  Buenos 
Aires  working  for  magazines  and  reviews 
capable  of  drawing  advertising  illustra- 
tions which  will  have  the  people  and 
ambiente  of  the  country,  they  work  best 
when  some  one  is  at  hand  to  make  clear 
the  advertising  motives  by  which  the 
public  is  to  be  reached — otherwise  they 
will  simply  turn  out  a  picture. 

These  considerations  make  it  wise  to 
get  as  close  as  possible  to  the  market  and 
the  advertising  mediums  of  the  country 
and  its  people. 


A    BUST   CORNER    TN   BUENOS    AIRES 

ARTICLE  LVI 

ANTIQUATED  RETAIL  STYLE 
INVITES  YANKEE  INVASION 

gUENOS  AIRES,  Dec.  18  (delayed). 
— A  tube  of  toothpaste,  retailed  in 
the  United  States  for  twenty-five  cents 
or  less,  costs  sixty  to  seventy-five  cents 
over  the  counter  in  Buenos  Aires,  with 
hundreds  of  similar  articles  in  the  same 
proportion — toilet  goods,  medicines,  jew- 
elry, novelties  and  whatnot. 

Because  the  story  of  a  tube  of  tooth- 
paste in  Buenos  Aires  is  also  the  story  of 


a  tire  for  your  automobile  or  a  pair  of 
Yankee  shoes  for  your  feet  or  a  Bond 
street  bowler  for  your  head,  it  has  been 
worked  out  completely  with  the  aid  of 
an  American  doing  business  in  the  Ar- 
gentine capital. 

One  hundred  dozen  tubes  cost  $250 
American  money  in  New  York.  Freight 
to  Buenos  Aires,  $15.60;  insurance, 
$1.75.  On  arrival  in  Buenos  Aires  there 
is  a  charge  of  fifty-three  cents  for  hoist- 
ing the  stuff  out  of  the  ship,  $2.26  for 
slinging  it  off  onto  the  wharf  and  $1.13 
storage  while  it  is  going  through  the  cus- 
toms formalities. 
Then  the  Argen- 
tine Government 
gets  busy,  charg- 
ing a  duty  of  50 
per  cent  on  the 
price  in  New  York 
—$125.  On  top 
of  that  is  an  addi- 
tional 7  per  cent 
duty,  amounting  to 
$17.50,  and  sixty 
cents  for  govern- 
ment stamps.  So 
when  the  shipment 
reaches  the  im- 
porter its  cost  in 
our  money  is 
$413.77,  an  in- 
crease of  60  per 
cent.  The  Argen- 
tine Government 
has  not  yet  fin- 
ished. In  Argen- 
tine money  the 
goods  are  now 
worth  942.42 
pesos.  Govern- 
ment stamps  for 
documents  accom- 
panying the  ship- 
ment cost  twelve 
pesos.  Each  tube 
must  bear  a  reve- 
nue stamp  costing 
one  and  one-quar- 
ter centavos,  or 
150  pesos,  for  the 
shipment.  The 
custom  -  house 
broker  gets  his 
commission  of  five 
pesos  and  there  is 
a  peso  for  cartage.  Total,  1 1 10.42  pesos. 
This  works  out  to  ninety-three  centavos 
a  tube  to  the  Buenos  Aires  retailer  and 
he  sells  it  for  1.30  to  1.60  pesos  per  tube. 

CONSUMING  POWER  UNDEVELOPED 

HAND  any  Yankee  such  figures  in  his 
own  line,  be  it  either  manufactur- 
ing or  merchandising,  and  he  begins 
studying  them  from  the  efficiency  stand- 
point, to  see  how  goods  may  be  sold 
more  cheaply  to  the  Argentinos  and 
profit  saved  for  himself. 

The  first  big  item,  of  course,  is  that  of 
duty  and  freight,  and  it  immediately  sug- 


ARGENTINA 


39 


gests  either  the  establishment  of  a  fac- 
tory in  Argentina  or  the  bringing  in  of 
ingredients  to  be  compounded  there.  The 
Argentine  Government  derives  most  of 
its  revenue  from  high  duties  on  imported 
merchandise,  especially  things  similar  to 
those  made  in  Argentina's  few  factories. 
The  chief  difficulty  about  making  goods 
in  Argentina  or  establishing  a  branch 
factory  there  is  population.  The  country 
has  only  8,000,000  people,  and  a  large 
proportion  of  those  are  farm  laborers  with 
very  simple  wants,  while  the  purchasing 
ability  of  the  masses  in  Buenos  Aires  is 
also  decidedly  low.  But  unquestionably 
the  consuming  capacity  of  the  country 
has  not  been  reached  in  many  lines  of 
merchandise,  owing  to  high  prices,  and 
this  immediately  turns  one's  thoughts  to 
the  retail  end,  to  see  if  turnover  can  be 
increased  and  costs  lowered. 

Retailing  in   Buenos  Aires  invites  an 


upon  it,  he  will  wait  through  eternity  for 
some  one  to  buy. 

Quite  foreign  to  his  business  think'ng 
is  the  Yankee  scheme  of  increasing  turn- 
over by  adding  new  lines.  If  he  runs 
a  little  "farmacia,"  his  sales  may  be  con- 
fined almost  entirely  to  medicines,  and  he 
<'s  timidly  adding  a  few  toilet  articles, 
charging  you  three  to  five  American  dol- 
lars to  fill  a  prescription,  never  dreaming 
of  the  extensions  of  stock  by  which  some 
American  druggists  have  built  sales  in 
specialties  like  French  ivory  goods 
through  chain  stores,  taking  the  output 
of  a  factory. 

MOST  EXPENSIVE  CAPITAL 

HPHE  Buenos  Aires  retailer  is  a  specu- 
lator in  merchandise,  not  a  business 
builder.  Prices  all  along  the  line,  from 
importer  to  retailer,  rise  and  fall  accord- 
ing to  the  stocks  of  goods  available.  Dur- 


been  confined  almost  entirely  to  manu- 
facturing and  wholesaling.  The  retail 
field  has  been  neglected.  There  are  op- 
portunities in  Buenos  Aires  for  shops  run 
on  Yankee  lines.  The  chain  drug  store 
would  quickly  make  a  place  for  itself, 
according  to  Americans  who  have  stud- 
ied the  field,  and  so  with  the  five-and- 
ten-cent  store — trinkets  marked  on  the 
Woolworth  plan  in  the  United  States  at 
a  nickel  and  dime  often  cost  seventy-five 
cents  to  a  dollar  in  Buenos  Aires,  sim- 
ply because  they  have  not  been  massed  to- 
gether in  an  enormous  turnover,  but  aie 
sold  singly  in  different  shops  in  small 
quantities.  Buenos  Aires  has  some  large 
department  stores,  but  they  are  operated 
on  English  lines,  so  the  intensive  work- 
ing of  each  department  by  its  expert 
buyer,  under  the  direction  of  a  merchan- 
dise manager  who  watches  the  turnover 
and  insists  that  dead  stock  be  cleared  off 


invasion  of  real  merchants — men  with 
the  intensive  methods  that  have  brought 
success  in  the  United  States. 

The  average  Buenos  Aires  retailer  is 
almost  invariably  a  Spaniard,  Italian  or 
German.  He  comes  from  a  country  of 
small  shops  and  old-fashioned  methods. 
In  figuring  profits  he  seldom  begins 
below  50  per  cent  and  from  that  runs  on 
up  to  70  and  even  80  per  cent  in  some 
lines,  against  20  to  35  per  cent  in  the 
United  States.  When  you  ask  him  about 
turnover  he  wants  to  know  what  you 
mean  by  the  word,  and  a  little  investi- 
gation of  his  shelves  shows  that  the  idea 
is  entirely  new  to  him.  He  carries  a 
limited  stock  in  a  limited  line,  and  his 
shelves  are  filled  with  dusty  "clavo"— 
his  word  for  dead  stock.  Ask  him  why 
he  does  not  close  this  stuff  out  by  cut- 
ting the  price  and  again  he  looks  at  you 
blankly.  Another  foreign  idea!  Hav- 
ing bought  the  stuff  and  marked  his  price 


SAN  MARTIN  CARTS  READY  FOR   DELIVERY 

ing  the  war,  for  example,  there  was  a 
shortage  in  lead  pencils,  the  price  of 
which  rose  as  high  as  sixty  cents  apiece. 
At  this  writing  pocket  knives  are  almost 
unobtainable  in  Argentina.  Day  to  day 
fluctuations  in  the  supply  of  merchandise, 
even  in  normal  times,  cause  fluctuations 
in  price.  A  shipload  of  merchandise  com- 
ing into  the  harbor  will  cause  prices  to 
fall.  So  the  Buenos  Aires  retailer  pur- 
chases stock,  with  an  eye  upon  futures. 
If  he  thinks  an  article  scarce,  and  likely 
to  go  up  in  price,  he  will  buy  for  the 
rise,  trying  to  corner  the  market,  and  if 
he  thinks  prices  are  going  down  will  be 
conservative.  He  is  partial  to  the  staple 
things  that  have  been  sold  for  years,  and 
not  at  all  inclined  to  experiment  with 
novelties  which  would  unquestionably  be 
popular  with  his  customers  and  broaden 
his  turnover  if  he  did  a  little  introduc- 
tory work  on  them. 

Our  studies  of  Argentine  business  have 


the  shelves,  would  be  an  improvement. 

From  a  merchandise  standpoint,  not 
to  say  the  whole  scheme  of  living,  Bue- 
nos Aires  is  perhaps  the  most  expensive 
capital  in  the  world.  The  Argentinos 
go  on  paying  luxury  prices  for  plain  ne- 
cessities and  never  seem  to  ask  "Why?" 
But  the  Yankee  is  beginning  to  ask.  An 
invasion  of  Yankee  retailers  would  not 
only  ease  the  burden  of  life  for  the  Ar- 
gentinos, but  enlarge  merchandise  turn- 
over to  such  an  extent  that  Argentine 
factories  and  American  branch  facto- 
ries would  be  possible. 


ARTICLE  LVII 

ARGENTINE  METHODS 
DIFFER  FROM  OURS 
IN  MANY  RESPECTS 

gUENOS  AIRES,  Dec.  19  (delayed). 

— When  you  present  a  check  at  your 

bank  at  home  the  cashier  hands  out  your 


-10 


ARGENTINA 


■■H&  *       v^JHHHBPpp  MM 

WATER    POWER    DEVELOPMENT    IN    THE    WESTERN    PROVINCES 


money  at  once,  and  takes  pride  in  know- 
ing yourself  and  your  balance.  But 
when  you  present  a  check  at  an  Argen- 
tine bank  it  takes  ten  to  fifteen  minutes, 
because  the  routine  is  entirely  different. 
First  your  check  goes  to  the  bookkeeper, 
who  looks  up  your  balance  and  initials 
the  check  if  it  is  good.  Then  another 
bookkeeper  verifies  your  signature  and 
adds  his  initials.  Then  it  is  paid  by  still 
another  clerk- — four  men  handle  it  in  all. 

When  you  pay  an  account  with  a 
check  in  Argentina  the  bank  does  not 
return  the  canceled  check,  but  stores  it 
away.  You  can  make  the  bank  produce 
it  by  process  of  law,  but  a  check  is  not 
legal  proof  of  payment  in  the  Argentine 
courts.  As  the  banks  must  keep  checks 
twenty  years,  one  of  the  big  items  in 
their  cost  of  operation  is  storage  and  fil- 
ing for  these  vouchers.  Checks  are  not 
widely  used  in  Argentine  business — most 
business  houses  pay  their  bills  on  a  cer- 
tain day  in  the  month,  and  people  to 
whom  they  owe  money  come  around  to 
collect  in  cash. 

Buenos  Aires  has  plenty  of  movies, 
but  has  yet  to  adopt  the  continuous  idea. 
Cafes  and  restaurants  in  the  Argentine 
capital   seem  to  be  continuous,  but  not 


the  movies.  Performances  are  given 
twice  a  day- — in  the  afternoon  and  eve- 
ning— and  each  performance  is  in  three 
sections  of  about  an  hour  each,  with  one 
feature  film  recut  for  Spanish  taste  and 
titling,  and  a  vaudeville  act  following. 
If  you  buy  a  ticket  to  the  second  section, 
say,  9.30  p.  m.,  it  does  not  admit  you  to 
the  theatre  until  the  first  section  :s  fin- 
ished, and  if  you  want  to  remain  for  the 
third  section,  beginning  at  10.30  p.  m., 
you  must  go  outside  and  buy  a  new  ticket. 
The  first-section  audience  will  often 
steal  fifteen  minutes  from  the  second 
section's  rightful  time  by  encoring  the 
"grandioso  exito,"  or  vaudeville  act,  but 
that  merely  delays  the  whole  evening's 
program,  and  it  comes  out  all  right  in 
the  end. 

HAVE  "DOLLAR  CHASER"  IDEA 

"CEA  BREVE!"  is  a  common  sign  in 
Buenos  Aires  business  offices.  It 
means,  "Be  brief — don't  anchor  here!" 
But  like  our  "Do  it  now!"  nobody  takes 
it  seriously. 

The  mail  carriers  in  Buenos  Aires 
leave  all  your  letters  with  the  elevator 
starter  on  the  ground  floor,  never  com- 
ing up  to  your  office  except  at  New  Year, 


when  they  call  for  a  tip.  The  elevator 
starter  is  therefore  a  postoffice,  a  taxi 
starter,  a  city  directory,  an  information 
bureau  and  almost  anything  you  desire. 
Starting  the  elevators  is  one  of  his  minor 
functions. 

When  the  Argentino  writes  you  a  per- 
sonal letter  and  wishes  to  be  unusually 
courteous,  he  turns  it  upside  down,  from 
our  standpoint.  First  of  all,  at  the  top 
of  the  sheet  comes  his  signature,  then 
he  salutes  you  "by  name,  and  at  the  bottom 
puts  the  date. 

The  Argentine  people  have  a  persist- 
ent tradition  that  Yankees  are  all  dollar- 
chasers,  especially  Argentine  country  peo- 
ple. They  use  this  belief  in  making  a 
trade,  protesting  that  you  ask  too  much 
in  selling  or  pay  too  little  in  buying  be- 
cause you  have  come  to  Argentina  sim- 
ply to  gather  pesos.  One  Yankee  man- 
ager of  an  Argentine  estancia  meets  that 
by  saying,  'Yes,  but  the  Argentine  dol- 
lar is  only  half  as  big  as  the  Yankee  dol- 
lar, and  you  Argentinos  chase  it  twice 
as  hard!"  This  is  always  a  new  view, 
and  convincing. 

The  Argentine  railroad  conductor 
hisses  "s-s-s-s-s"  at  you  as  he  hands  back 
your  ticket,  and  if  you  tip  the  dining- 


ARGENTINA 


41 


car  steward  liberally  he  hisses  twice. 
They  are  not  dissatisfied  with  anything — 
it  is  simply  their  way  of  saying 
"Thanks."  In  Spanish  the  form  is 
"Muchas  gracias,"  but  everyday  use 
shortens  it  to  a  hiss. 

In  Argentine  slang,  butter  is  invaria- 
bly called  "lard,"  the  word  "manteca" 
being  used  instead  of  the  real  Spanish 
word  for  butter,  "mantequilla." 

Instead  of  writing  "City"  in  address- 
ing a  letter  for  delivery  in  Buenos  Aires, 
as  we  would  do,  it  is  the  custom  to  use 
the  word  "Capital." 

The  word  "chop"  appears  frequently 
on  Buenos  Aires  menus,  sometimes 
spelled  "chopp."  It  does  not  stand  for 
meat,  however,  but  for  a  large  glass  of 
beer!  This  usage  is  general  throughout 
Latin  America. 

MOVIES  INFLUENCE  HABITS 

(~)NE  of  the  worst  monstrosities  of 
usage  is  "River  Plate,"  common  in 
the  United  States  and  England  to  desig- 
nate the  Rio  Plata,  Argentine's  great 
gateway.  "Rio  Plata"  means,  in  Span- 
ish, "silver  river,"  and  that  name,  merely 
translated,  would  be  pretty  and  right. 
But  it  was  evidently  the  British  who  vul- 
garized the  name  by  turning  it  into 
"plate,"  and,  as  with  the  case  of  our  vul- 
gar abbreviation  of  "Frisco,"  something 
ought  to  be  done  about  it. 

Argentine  dawns  and  sunsets  are  blue, 
where  ours  are  red.  The  high  sky  over 
the  pampa  seems  to  give  room  for  tier 
upon  tier  of  clouds,  and  houses  are  visible 
for  fifteen  miles,  a  glorious  effect  of 
spaciousness  and  the  real  outdoors.  Add 
to  this  a  dozen  pools  of  water  at  sunset, 
each  reflecting  its  own  shade  of  transpar- 
ent blue,  and  let  a  wild  duck  swim  over 
one  of  the  pools,  leaving  behind  a  trail 
of  blue  fire — see  that  for  yourself,  and 
you  will  understand  why  the  Argentine 
national  flag  is  composed  of  blue  and 
white,  and  has  as  much  meaning  as  our 
own  Stars  and  Stripes. 

In  the  United  States  our  way  of  mak- 
ing a  policeman  or  detective  is  to  take 
an  honest  man  and  teach  him  the  ways 
of  a  crook.  Argentina  has  built  up  a 
vigilant,  honest  and  plucky  rural  police, 
capable  of  bringing  order  into  a  wild 
country,  by  putting  a  uniform  onto  the 
best  of  its  bad  men  and  teaching  them 
the  ways  of  honesty  and  discipline. 

In  Buenos  Aires  the  American  movies 
are  teaching  the  boys  to  ask  for  a  "Wil- 
son hat,"  by  which  they  mean  a  Fedora, 
and  to  copy  some  of  William  S.  Hart's 
effects  in  a  broader  brim.  And  the  girls 
are  learning  something  of  the  freedom 
of  our  girls,  and  are  very  keen  for  it 
themselves.  American  movies  will  prob- 
ably influence  Argentine  habits  more  in 
the  next  five  or  ten  years  than  any  other 
possible  method  of  exchanging  opinions. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  common  sense 
of  Argentine  women  will  also  soon  lead 
them  to  see  the  monstrosity  of  the  short- 


vamp  high-heeled  shoes  universally  worn 
by  their  sex  throughout  Latin  America. 
These  shoes  actually  deform  the  feet,  be- 
cause, to  get  a  purely  fanciful  illusion 
of  small  feet,  women  crowd  the  foot  into 
a  shoe  only  half  long  enough,  and  stalk 
about  on  six-inch  heels  like  storks.  Prac- 
tically they  are  walking  on  their  big  toes, 
and  in  time  get  a  Chinese  distortion  of 
the  whole  foot.  The  situation  might  be 
remedied  either  by  the  leadership  of  Ar- 
gentine women  anxious  to  better  their 
sisters,  or  by  American  shoe  advertising 
to  show  the  superior  comfort  of  our  shoe 
shapes  and  styles. 

"SECONDS"  HARM  TRADE 

MEETING  the  Yankee  now,  the  Ar- 
gentino  pokes  his*  fun  at  prohibi- 
tion. One  Buenos  Aires  business  man, 
urging  our  adoption  of  the  metric  sys- 
tem and  hearing  the  objection — its  great 
cost- — declared  that  prohibition  would 
cost  us  far  more,  meaning  that  it  would 
keep  customers  from  our  shores.  What- 
ever the  merits  or  demerits  of  prohibi- 
tion, it  is  curiously  easy  to  sell  the  idea 
to  the  Latin  American.  Start  by  admit- 
ting that  one  seldom  sees  a  drunken  per- 
son in  a  Latin  country.  But  add  that 
students  of  the  question  find  that  long- 
drawn-out  tippling  in  such  Latin  coun- 
tries as  Italy  and  France  is  admitted  to 
waste  time  and  make  people  less  efficient, 
and  very  often  your  Argentino  critic  will 
concede  it,  saying,  "You  are  right — we 
do  drink  too  much !" 

Argentina    is   a   "silver   country"   by 


nomenclature,  and  is  even  entered  by  a 
"silver  river,"  the  Plata.  The  gaucho, 
or  cowboy  of  the  pampa,  wears  a  belt 
made  of  silver  coins  and  fits  his  horse 
with  heavy  silver  trappings,  while  the 
fine  lady  in  Buenos  Aires  demands  sil- 
ver toilet  articles  and  will  have  none  of 
our  attractive  "French  ivory"  or  cellu- 
loid. But  that  is  unquestionably  a  mat- 
ter of  familiarity  and  education,  and  if 
aggressive  retail  methods  were  used, 
backing  up  explanatory  advertising,  our 
"French  ivory"  toilet  articles  could  be 
sold  to  thousands  of  Argentine  women 
who  cannot  afford  silver. 

Ever  sell  "seconds"  from  your  factory 
under  the  delusion  that  they  were  to  be 
marketed  in  some  remote  place  without 
injuring  your  trademark  and  good  will? 
Quite  a  number  of  American  manufac- 
turers do  this,  and  perhaps  add  their 
trademark  to  the  goods  to  help  the  sale. 
When  a  lot  of  that  stuff  is  bought  up  by 
a  broker  and  shipped  to  Argentina — a 
common  practice— and  the  public  there 
gets  its  first  impression  of  your  goods 
through  your  seconds,  and  thinks  of  them 
afterward  in  connection  with  your  trade- 
mark, obviously  it  complicates  matters 
when  you  decide  to  enter  the  Argentine 
market  yourself  or  to  build  up  sales 
through  a  representative.  "Seconds" 
come  home  to  roost  unless  you  dump 
them  near  home  and  keep  your  trade- 
mark off. 


ARTICLE  LVIII 

SELF-ADVERTISEMENT  HERE 
WOULD  BENEFIT  ARGENTINA 

■pUENOS  AIRES,  Nov.  1  (delayed). 
— Argentina  has  a  navy,  as  has  also 
Brazil.  During  the  last  ten  years  both 
countries  have  invested  money  in  sea 
power,    and    Argentina's    tonnage    has 


PLAZA   DE  MATO.   BUENOS   AIRES 


42 


ARGENTINA 


been  increased  200  per  cent.  Her  two 
largest  ships,  the  Rivadavia  and  the  Mo- 
reno, were  built  in  the  United  States. 

Argentina's  navy  is  small  but  serious 
— it  supplements  the  coast  defenses  of 
the  Rio  Plata.  Really  she  has  two 
navies,  one  on  the  ocean  and  the  other 
upon  her  great  interior  system  of  rivers, 
for  police  purposes. 

Buenos  Aires  also  has  some  magnifi- 
cent bands.  No  Yankee  band  or  orches- 
tra ever  played  ''The  Star  Spangled  Ban- 
ner" like  the  Banda  Municipal  of  Bue- 
nos Aires,  which  gives  frequent  concerts 
in  the  city's  plazas.  It  is  rich  in  high 
tenor  horns  and  puts  a  certain  Latin  feel- 
ing of  its  own  into  our  national  hymn. 

Argentina  has  a  rhythm  music  as  vig- 
orous as  our  own  in  tango,  and  innumer- 
erable  tango  orchestras,  and  its  gaucho 
or  cowboy  songs. 

Argentina  has  many  good  things  to 
eat.  The  pampas  swarm  with  game — 
pheasant,  hares,  doves,  plover  and  part- 
ridges. She  also  has  characteristic  dishes 
like  "puchero,"  and  spaghettis  that  rival 
even  Italy  in  variety  and  savoriness. 

Suppose  Argentina  sent  her  sea  navy 
for  an  official  visit  to  the  United  States, 
and  some  of  her  bands,  and  tango  orches- 
tras, and  food  specialties  and  cooks. 
A  few  Argentine  public  dinners  could 
be  made  up  entirely  of  her  own  prod- 
ucts and  accompanied  by  Argentine 
music,  both  native  and  classical.  A  lit- 
tle effort  along  this  line  to  really  make 
herself  known  to  us,  considering  our  pres- 
ent interest  in  Latin  America  generally, 
would  do  more  to  help  Yankees  visualize 
Argentina  than  any  other  thing. 

New  York  is  full  of  visitors  from  Ar- 
gentina, but  they  stick  to  a  few  hotel? 
where  Spanish  is  spoken,  and  make  no 
definite  impression  in  our  metropolis.  If 
their  government  entertained  in  this  way, 
and  the  Argentinos  were  brought  to- 
gether to  sing  their  warlike  "Oi  Mor- 
tales!"  under  the  blue  and  white  flag  of 
the  republic,  the  man  in  the  street  in  New 
York  would  realize  how  strong  is  the 
feeling  of  nationality  among  our  south- 
ern neighbors  and  accord  them  a  respect 
based  upon  acquaintance. 

AMERICANISM  NOT  REALIZED 

A  RGENTINA  has  not  been  backward 
about  advertising  in  the  past,  but 
she  has  advertised  chiefly  in  England  and 
France — particularly  France,  whose 
writers  have  been  entertained  and  aided 
in  the  production  of  a  descriptive  litera- 
ture of  Argentina  in  French  which  is 
unquestionably  the  fullest  obtainable. 
She  has  also  established  direct  ties  with 
England  in  her  livestock  shows,  acting 
as  host  each  year  to  the  best  British 
judges  of  cattle,  horses  and  sheep. 

That  the  Yankees  might  be  interested 
in  these  matters  does  not  seem  to  have 
occurred  to  the  Argentinos,  and  perhaps 
with  good  reason.  To  France  the  re- 
public has  looked  for  culture  and  sympa- 


thy, and  to  England  for  capital  and 
material  development.  The  Yankee  in 
Argentina  has  usually  been  a  salesman, 
intent  upon  finding  customers,  supported 
by  no  investment,  banking  or  shipping  or- 
ganizations. Only  now  are  the  Argen- 
tinos beginning  to  see  that  the  Yankee  is 
not  always  a  salesman  and  that  we  have 
a  very  definite  "simpatico"  of  our  own. 

It  has  been  said,  humorously,  by 
Yankees  in  Argentina  that  the  first 
North  Americans  the  Argentinos  saw 
were  those  who  came  to  their  country 
because  we  had  no  extradition  treaty  to 
bring  them  back  home,  and  that  the  next 
were  the  butchers!  Perhaps  this  is  unfair 
to  the  packers,  for  the  latter  have  done 
much  to  advance  Argentina.  Yet  it  is 
a  fact  that  we  have  been  slenderly  rep- 
resented in  numbers,  compared  with 
other  nations,  and  that  the  Americans 
visiting  Argentina  have,  until  very  re- 
cently, conveyed  little  idea  of  our  coun- 
try as  it  really  is  and  its  big-hearted 
way  of  doing  things,  temperamental  no 
less  than  practical. 

But  now  the  Argentinos  are  seeing 
real  Yankees  in  their  own  country,  and 
also  in  our  own,  having  visited  the 
United  States  in  increasing  numbers 
during  the  war. 

When  they  catch  the  American  idea  of 
putting  advertising  behind  pride  in  one's 
country,  and  province,  and  community, 
their  own  strong  pride  will  unquestion- 
ably lead  them  to  adopt  some  of  our 
"boosting"  methods. 

Argentina  needs  advertising  in  the 
United  States  for  several  reasons. 

YANKEE  METHODS  NEEDED 

EMRST  of  all,  public  opinion — the  un- 
derstanding and  friendship  of  the  in- 
dividual Yankee.  During  the  last  gen- 
eration the  United  States  has  been 
repeatedly  forced  by  circumstances  to 
participate  in  Latin-American  affairs. 
Sometimes  we  have  had  reason  to  feel 
that  we  were  successful,  as  in  the  case  of 
Cuba,  which  rapidly  worked  out  its  own 
independence  and  has  attained  a  pros- 
perity that  safeguards  its  future.  In 
other  cases  we  have  not  been  successful. 
But  in  every  instance  success  was  based 
on  understanding  and  public  opinion  in 
the  United  States,  as  with  Cuba,  which 
was  not  only  near  to  us,  but  took  pains 
to  make  her  difficulty  known,  while  lack 
of  success  can  be  attributed  to  our  lack 
of  understanding,  absence  of  public  opin- 
ion and  temperamental  as  well  as  geo- 
graphical distance. 

During  the  new  generation — perhaps 
the  next  ten  years — Argentina  must  deal 


with  grave  social  problems.  The  mass 
of  her  people  need  better  educational 
facilities  and  better  standards  of  living. 
Her  countryside  needs  settlers,  with 
more  intensive  farming  and  a  cutting  up 
of  large  estates.  She  needs  industries 
and  a  middle  class.  A  general  under- 
standing of  these  problems  in  the  United 
States,  with  better  contacts  between 
Americans  and  Argentinos,  will  be  of 
the  utmost  service  in  working  out  solu- 
tions. 

Argentina  needs  Yankee  capital, 
backed  by  Yankee  brains  and  business 
methods,  to  develop  her  resources  along 
many  lines  and  increase  her  prosperity. 
If  our  money  is  invested  there  merely  by 
bankers  and  confined  to  activities  repre- 
sented by  the  unfeeling  bond,  or  if  the 
distance  becomes  even  greater,  with  our 
money  reaching  Argentino  through 
Europe,  the  flow  of  Yankee  dollars  will 
be  beneficial,  of  course.  But  how  much 
more  beneficial  if  knowledge  of  Argen- 
tina in  the  United  States  attracts  the 
kind  of  Yankee  who  goes  along  and 
works  with  his  dollars! 

IMPROVED  SHIP  TRANSPORTATION 

ARGENTINA  needs  tourists.  The 
passenger  facilities  between  New 
York  and  Buenos  Aires  have  not  been 
comparable  to  those  between  either  New 
York  and  Europe  or  Buenos  Aires  and 
Europe.  Moreover,  the  trip  is  a  long 
and  costly  one  compared  with  a  trip  to 
Europe.  So  while  every  corn-belt  town 
has  its  schoolmarm  who  knows  London 
and  Paris,  the  Yankee  who  knows  Bue- 
nos Aires,  Rosario  and  Bahia  Blanco  is 
still  exceptional — his  friends  wonder  why 
he  ever  traveled  to  such  remote  places, 
and  in  nearly  every  case  the  journey  was 
made  for  business  reasons.  But  Argen- 
tina needs  tourists  who  go  for  other  rea- 
sons— thinking  and  sympathetic  Ameri- 
cans, who  exert  more  influence  upon  the 
public  opinion  than  does  the  business 
man — students,  engineers,  educators, 
writers,  painters,  sociologists  and  public 
men. 

Argentina  needs  settlers.  In  the  past 
she  has  attracted  chiefly  immigrants  from 
Europe,  people  willing  to  serve  a  term 
at  drudgery  in  Buenos  Aires  or  the  coun- 
try, bringing  nothing  with  them  and 
returning  home  as  soon  as  they  earned 
enough  to  live  on  comfortably  in  Italy 
or  Spain.  These  are  not  settlers  in  the 
true  sense,  and  they  contribute  absolutely 
nothing  to  the  real  development  of  the 
country  or  the  solution  of  its  social  prob- 
lems. Whether  the  American  farmer 
would  find  himself  at  home  in  Argentina 
in  any  great  numbers  is  questionable,  but 
without  doubt  a  sprinkling  of  Americans 
with  their  characteristic  methods  could 
be  attracted  and  would  be  beneficial, 
even  though  their  stay  in  the  republic 
were  temporary. 

The  United  States  offers  many  me- 
diums   through    which    Argentina    can 


ARGENTINA 


43 


make  herself  better  known  with  a  little 
effort.  We  have  our  newspapers  and 
magazines,  our  vast  moving-picture  audi- 
ences, our  Chautauqua  circuits,  our 
granges  and  other  organizations.  Our 
interest  in  Latin  America  is  keen,  and 
the  Latin  American  finds  himself  with 
a  new  interest  in  and  a  new  viewpoint 
about  us  following  the  war.  We  are  a 
nation  of  advertisers  and  accustomed  to 
getting  much  of  our  information  in 
terms  of  advertising.  As  we  each  grow 
better  acquainted  let  us  hope  that  he 
will  learn  to  take  advantage  of  this 
Yankee  characteristic  and  advertise  h'.n- 
self  in  Yankeeland. 


ARTICLE  LIX 

COMMERCE  CHAMBER 
BIG  AID  TO  TRADE 
IN  ARGENTINA 

■DUENOS  AIRES,  Oct.  30  (delayed). 
— An  American  perfume  manufac- 
turer sent  down  to  Buenos  Aires  some 
samples  of  an  attractive  novelty — a  small 
perfume  flask  having  a  glass  rod  fixed  to 
its  metal  stopper,  by  which  perfume 
could  be  used  a  drop  at  a  time  without 
waste.  Latin  Americans  are  very  fond 
of  perfume.  This  novelty  was  stocked 
by  a  Buenos  Aires  wholesaler  and 
quickly  created  a  demand.  The  whole- 
saler ordered  75,000  of  them,  and  re- 
ceived a  bottle  twice  the  size  without 
the  novelty  stopper.  He  wrote  to  the 
mnaufacturer,  but  got  no  reply. 


A  year  ago  the  case  might  have  stopped 
there,  doing  injustice  to  the  Argentine 
customer  and  creating  ill  will  for  other 
American  business  houses.  But  today  we 
have  a  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Bue- 
nos Aires,  with  a  special  committee  for 
investigating  such  cases  and  making  ad- 
justments. 

The  Argentine  merchant  laid  his  case 
before  the  committee,  submitting  sam- 
ples of  both  styles  of  bottle.  The  com- 
mittee investigated,  decided  that  he  had 
reason  for  complaint,  and  wrote  to  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United 
States  in  Washington.  This  organiza- 
tion took  the  matter  up  with  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  in  the  city  where  the 
manufacturer  does  business  and  the  lat- 
ter was  visited.  This  was  the  first  time 
he  had  heard  that  his  Buenos  Aires  cus- 
tomer was  dissatisfied,  he  said,  not  hav- 
ing received  any  letters.  During  the 
war  it  has  been  impossible  to  make  the 
novelty  stoppers  for  his  perfume  bottles 
on  account  of  war  restrictions  in  mate- 
rial. He  did  not  know  that  Buenos 
Aires  ladies  liked  the  bottle,  but  believed 
the  demand  was  for  his  perfume.  So 
in  good  faith  he  had  filled  the  order  with 


a  plain  bottle  containing  double  the 
quantity  of  perfume,  and  thought  he  was 
doing  the  handsome  thing.  When  mat- 
ters were  explained  he  made  a  generous 
money  adjustment,  and  the  Buenos  Aires 
customer  placed  another  order. 

TRADE  COMPLAINTS  FEW 

QUR  "American"  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce in  Buenos  Aires  had  to  be 
carefully  distinguished  by  a  long  name  to 
avoid  confusion  with  the  other  Americas. 
It  is  called  "the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
of  the  United  States  of  America  in  the 
Argentine  Republic."  Its  manager  is 
J.  Nelson  Wisner,  a  Yankee  with  years 
of  business  experience  in  Uruguay  and 
Argentina,  originally  engaged  in  scien- 
tific work  for  the  Uruguayan  Govern- 
ment. 

Out  of  $300,000,000  worth  of  trade 
passing  between  Argentina  and  the 
United  States  in  1918,  only  about  $100,- 
000  worth  involved  misunderstandings 
leading  to  actual  complaints  by  Argen- 
tine business  men  to  our  Chamber  of 
Commerce.  This  is  a  very  small  propor- 
tion, and  yet  misunderstandings  have  an 
ugly  way  of  multiplying  themselves. 
They  create  ill  feeling,  and  the  settle- 
ment of  complaints  on  the  spot  by  dis- 
interested American  business  men  is 
doing  much  to  improve  our  reputation  in 
that  quarter  of  the  world. 

Some  well-founded  complaints  are  due 
to  distance  and  difference  in  viewpoint 
between  perfectly  honest  American  and 


GROUP    OF    REPRESENTATIVE    ARGENTINE  WOMEN 


44 


ARGENTINA 


CAMPION    BROTHERS,     OWNERS    OF    THE    LARGEST    HOG    RANCH    IN    WORLD. 
AT   ENRIQUE    LAVELLE.    ARGENTINA 


Argentino  business  men,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  perfume  bottle.  Others  are  not 
so  well  founded,  and  the  decision  goes 
against  the  complainant. 

An  Argentine  concern  bought  some 
crude  chemical  in  the  United  States  and 
was  dissatisfied  because  the  stuff  came  in 
powdered  form  instead  of. crystals.  The 
arbitration  committee  ascertained  that 
the  purchase  had  been  made  without  the 
submission  of  a  sample  by  the  seller  or 
the  laying  down  of  specifications  by  the 
buyer.  This  chemical  is  used  in  crystal 
form  in  the  Argentine,  while  the  pow- 
dered form  is  standard  in  the  United 
States.      Samples    of    the   powder   were 


submitted  to  a  chemist,  who  reported 
that  it  was  exactly  like  the  crystals  in 
chemical  strength,  so  the  arbitrators  de- 
cided against  the  Argentino  and  sug- 
gested improvement  in  his  buying  rou- 
tine. 

An  Argentine  wholesaler  placed  an 
order  for  American  hosiery  through  what 
he  believed  was  a  responsible  New  York 
purchasing  agent.  When  the  hosiery 
came  it  was  a  motley  assortment  of  all 
grades,  sizes  and  colors.  The  New  York 
agent  was  entitled  to  5  per  cent  commis- 
sion on  the  purchase  price.  He  deducted 
commission  on  freight  and  insurance  as 
well.      Investigation   disclosed   that   this 


z^^le^zi£mit£S^^^^S 


PEACE    ARCH    ERECTED    AS    A    TRIBUTE    TO     ARGENTINE     VOLUNTEERS 
WHO     FOUGHT    WITH    THE    ALLIES 


assumed  purchasing  agent  was  really  a 
sharper,  who  had  sent  circulars  through- 
out South  America  and  secured  orders. 
His  office  had  been  in  the  Wall  street 
district  instead  of  the  dry  goods  district, 
and  he  could  not  be  found,  so  there  was 
no  redress  for  the  Argentine  purchaser. 

"With  American  banks,  American 
business  men,  the  United  States  consul 
and  other  sources  of  information  about 
American  business  firms  available  right 
here  in  Buenos  Aires,  how  did  you  come 
to  send  an  order  to  such  a  rascal?"  asked 
the  investigators. 

"I  don't  really  know  myself,"  admitted 
the  Argentino. 

Every  complaint  laid  before  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  is  taken  up  by 
the  arbitration  committee  and  where 
technical  questions  are  involved  is  sub- 
mitted to  experienced  surveyors,  who 
examine  merchandise  and  give  expert 
opinions.  These  surveyors  are  chosen 
among  Argentine  business  men  instead 
of  from  professional  experts.  They  are 
paid  fees  for  their  service  to  discourage 
idle  complaints,  but  the  fees  are  turned 
over  to  charities. 

CHAMBER  DESERVES  AID 

/")UT  of  the  teamwork  between  Argen- 
tines and  Americans  has  grown  a 
standard  clause,  drawn  up  by  the  Bue- 
nos Aires  Chamber  of  Commerce  and 
our  own,  providing  for  arbitration  in  all 
disputed  cases,  which  both  organizations 
recommend  be  inserted  in  contracts  be- 
tween Americans  and  Argentinos.  This 
clause  reads  as  follows: 

"All  disputed  questions  which  may 
occasion  controversy  relating  to  this  con- 
tract shall  be  submitted  to  arbitration 
under  the  rules  adopted  jointly  by  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Buenos  Aires 
and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the 
United  States  of  America  in  the  Argen- 
tine." This  clause  is  now  being  adopted 
in  business  transactions  and  for  brevity's 
sake  can  be  inserted  in  contracts  merely 
as  "Clause  AAA,"  which  stands  for 
"Argentine-American    arbitration." 

Our  Buenos  Aires  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce was  organized  last  December,  the 
second  on  the  southern  continent,  the 
first  being  established  in  Rio  de  Janeiro. 
Two  others  have  since  been  formed  in 
Valparaiso,  Chile,  and  Sao  Paulo,  Bra- 
zil. The  Buenos  Aires  organization  has 
only  about  125  members  among  Ameri 
can  business  men  in  the  Argentine,  and 
is  seeking  to  extend  its  work  by  securing 
associate  members  in  the  United  States 
among  concerns  doing  business  in  the 
Argentine.  With  sufficient  funds  it  will 
be  possible  to  extend  such  activities  as 
the  arbitration  work,  which  are  often 
costly  in  time  and  money,  and  also  to 
furnish  information  and  make  investiga- 
tions for  business  concerns  at  home.  As- 
sociate members  are  charged  $75  initia- 
tion fee  and  $60  yearly  dues  and  are 
entitled  to  all   privileges  except  that  of 


ARGENTINA 


45 


voting.  An  associate  member  in  the 
United  States  would  receive  the  organi- 
zation's monthly  bulletin,  containing 
timely  business  information,  be  kept 
posted  on  changes  in  Argentine  laws  and 
customs  regulations,  represented  in  Bue- 
nos Aires  in  the  event  of  misunderstand- 
ings with  Argentine  customers,  assisted 
in  translations,  the  gathering  of  special 
information,  and  be  given  any  other 
needed  service.  On  its  actual  work  in 
clearing  up  misunderstandings  between 
American  and  Argentine  business  con- 
cerns and  creating  good  will  for  us  in 
Argentina  during  the  few  months  of  its 
existence,  this  organization  is  entitled 
to  teamwork  from  business  men  at  home. 


you  through  the  customs  house  with 
your  trunks,  buy  you  a  railroad  ticket, 
and  send  some  one  around  with  you  to 
speak  Spanish.  You  need  not  be  a  deposi- 
tor or  even  carry  an  NCB  letter  of 
credit — it  is  enough  if  you  are  an  Ameri- 
can from  any  of  the  twenty  other  Ameri- 
can republics. 

A  newly  arrived  New  York  business 
man  stepped  into  the  Buenos  Aires 
branch  the  other  day  to  learn  where  he 
could  find  a  real  barbershop  with  Ameri- 
can chairs — Latin  America  has  not  yet 
been  led  to  see  the  advantages  of  our 
barbershop  equipment.  They  gave  him 
a  name  and  street  number. 

"Well,  I'll  be  hanged!  At  home  I 
would  be  almost  afraid  to  step  into  the 


establishment  of  this  institution,  the  first 
branch  abroad  of  an  American  national 
bank.  A  beginning  was  made  with  a 
handful  of  clerks  in  a  small  room.  Today 
the  institution  occupies  a  large  building, 
with  more  than  200  employes,  about  one 
in  ten  of  whom  have  been  sent  from  the 
United  States,  the  rest  being  of  eighteen 
nationalities,  largely  Latin  Americans. 
The  bank  now  has  thirty  branches  in 
Latin  America  and  nearly  fifty  through- 
out the  world,  and  is  establishing  more. 
Its  foreign  branches  employ  more  people 
than  did  the  home  institution  itself  in 
1914,  and  it  also  has  more  deposits  in  its 
branches  abroad  than  it  had  deposits  at 
home  five  years  ago. 


ANNAPOLIS    OF   ARGENTINA    AND    A    REVIEW    OF   THE    CADETS 


ARTICLE  LX 

BIG  U.  S.  BANK  WILL 
GET  YOU  A  HAIRCUT 
IN  ARGENTINA 

gUENOS  AIRES,  Oct.  28  (delayed). 
— It  has  been  said  that  if  a  depositor 
in  the  National  City  Bank  of  New  York 
permits  his  balance  to  fall  below  $5000 
he  is  likely  to  receive  a  notice  that  he  is 
overdrawn.  For  this  big  financial  insti- 
tution does  banking  chiefly  for  corpora- 
tions and  large  business  concerns,  not 
to  speak  of  communities  and  govern- 
ments. 

But  in  Buenos  Aires  the  National  City 
Bank  will  find  you  a  hotel  room,  help 


National  City  Bank — and  down  here  it 
cuts  my  hair." 

All  of  which  is  service  to  Americans 
by  a  big  financial  institution,  rendered 
with  the  broad  view  that  the  more 
Americans  travel  in  the  southern  conti- 
nent the  broader  will  be  their  business 
interests,  and  eventually  the  volume  of 
their  money  transactions  over  the  globe 
will  benefit  the  bank. 

Up  to  1914,  when  this  Buenos  Aires 
branch  was  opened,  no  quotations  on  the 
dollar  appeared  in  Argentine  statistics. 
It  is  said  that  the  American  ambassador 
to  Argentina  was  paid  in  pounds  sterling 
with  a  draft  on  London.  But  dollar 
quotations  began  immediately  upon  the 


BANKING  SYSTEM  GROWS 

nPHE  establishment  of  so  large  an  or- 
ganization abroad  during  the  tur- 
moil of  war  was  decidedly  difficult. 
Young  Americans  had  to  be  trained  in 
banking  and  languages  and  sent  out  to 
form  a  nucleus  around  which  organiza- 
tions could  be  built  up  in  other  coun- 
tries. Added  to  the  scarcity  of  men  and 
the  disinclination  of  Americans  to  go 
abroad,  there  was  our  entry  into  the  war 
which  called  men  to  the  colors. 

But  the  system  has  grown  and  is  still 
growing,  and  in  some  ways  American 
banks  have  been  welcomed  and  patron- 
ized abroad  to  a  greater  degree  than  at 
home.  The  Buenos  Aires  merchant,  deal- 


46 


ARGENTINA 


ing  with  an  American  manufacturer, 
handles  the  money  transactions  through 
an  American  bank  and  probably  has  a 
deposit  there  as  well.  But  very  likely 
the  American  merchant  doing  business 
with  other  countries  still  follows  habit 
and  sticks  to  some  foreign  banking  house 
through  which  he  has  always  dealt. 

Next  to  actual  branches  abroad  estab- 
lished by  our  manufacturers  for  direct 
dealing  with  wholesalers  carrying 
quickly  available  stocks  of  goods,  the  for- 
eign branches  of  an  institution  like  the 
National  City  Bank  form  the  most  direct 
connection  for  American  manufacturers 
in  world  trade  and  eliminate  abuses  and 
errors  which  seem  inseparable  from  indi- 
rect trading  through  foreign  importing 
agents.  For  the  National  City  Bank 
maintains  at  home  a  system  of  super- 
vision to  safeguard  the  export  trade  upon 
which  it  builds  financial  business.  If 
an  American  manufacturer  expresses  in- 
terest in  sales  abroad,  the  bank  sends  its 
technical  man  to  his  factory  to  investi- 
gate product  and  processes,  gauge  his 
ability  to  take  care  of  foreign  customers, 
the  capacity  of  his  plant,  his  packing  and 
shipping  methods  and  the  like.  If  his 
methods  can  be  improved,  he  is  told  so; 
and  if  it  seems  advisable  for  him  to  stay 
out  of  world  markets,  he  is  also  told. 

Another  American  financial  institution 
well  established  in  Buenos  Aires  is  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Boston,  opened 
in  1917  with  three  persons  and  now  em- 
ploying 230.  A  large  proportion  of  the 
wool  and  hides  of  Argentina  go  to  Bos- 
ton, and  traders  there  wanted  to  have 
their  own  financial  connections,  so  this 
branch  was  opened  under  the  manage- 
ment of  Noel  F.  Tribe,  a  New  Zea- 
lander,  with  long  experience  in  Argentine 
banking.  And  Mr.  Tribe  has  shown 
Buenos  Aires  a  few  new  wrinkles  in 
banking. 

BOSTON  BANK  HAS  SUCCESS 
A/TAKING  a  specialty  of  savings  ac- 
counts, he  began  advertising  the 
virtues  of  thrift  throughout  the  city. 
Such  advertising  has  long  been  familiar 
in  the  United  States,  but  it  was  a  nov- 
eltv  in    Buenos  Aires,   and   bankers   re- 


(Li 

./',* 

garded  it  as  a  doubtful  experiment  and 
a  radical  departure  from  staid  financial 
customs.  Mr.  Tribe  had  long  admired 
the  advertising  methods  of  our  savings 
banks  and  wanted  to  apply  them  in  Ar- 
gentina, but  until  the  Boston  bank  made 
him  manager  of  its  branch  he  had  "never 
been  his  own  boss." 

Advertising  quickly  demonstrated  that 
people  in  Argentina  are — just  people. 
In  less  than  two  years  more  than  15,000 
savings  accounts  had  been  opened,  with 
a  total  of  6,750,000  pesos  (approaching 
$3,000,000).  The  thrift  appeal  was  put 
before  the  public  in  newspapers,  maga- 
zines and  other  forms.  Upon  the  blank 
wall  of  a  Buenos  Aires  business  build- 
ing is  an  enormous  painted  sign  of  a  hand 
holding  a  Boston  Bank  savings  passbook 
with  the  phrase,  "Eventually  every  one 
in  Argentina  will  own  one  of  these 
books."  Employers  were  canvassed  and 
led  to  open  accounts  for  their  employes, 
depositing  one  peso  for  each  man  and 
woman — about  forty-five  cents,  in  our 
money.  It  was  predicted  that  workers 
would  draw  out  the  peso  immediately, 
but  more  than  50  per  cent  of  these  de- 
positors have  added  to  their  accounts. 
Some  Buenos  Aires  employers  now  re- 
quire that  a  new  employe  open  a  sav- 
ings account  and  sign  an  agreement  to 
deposit  5  per  cent  of  his  or  her  wages 
weekly,  because  it  makes  for  a  steadier 
class  of  workers.  Every  baby  born  in 
Buenos  Aires  receives  a  savings  deposit 
book  from  the  bank,  with  one  peso  cred- 
ited and  a  letter  of  felicitation  upon  the 
happy  event.  In  virtually  every  case  the 
mother  or  father  begins  adding  to  the 
account,  and  if  they  are  neglected  there 
is  always  a  grandfather,  an  uncle  or  an 
aunt — with  Latin  America's  loyalty  to 
family  it  is  like  shooting  into  a  flock  of 
partridges.  The  bank  also  distributes 
metal   boxes   for  saving  coins  at  home, 


purchasing  them  in  the  United  States, 
and  the  idea  so  impressed  Argentina 
government  officials  that  they  secured 
some  boxes  for  similar  distribution  by  the 
Argentina  Postal  Savings  Bank.  Christ- 
mas bonuses  to  employes  are  paid  in  the 
form  of  savings  bank  accounts,  and  by 
introductory  methods  along  the  same  line 
the  free-spending  Argentina  has  been  led 
to  put  away  for  a  rainy  day. 

U.  S.  BANKS  IMPORTANT 
TO  ARGENTINA 

*TpHIS  is  good  work,  and  it  serves  Ar- 
gentina in  three  distinct  ways: 

First,  the  odd  pesos  put  away  by  work- 
ing people  have  rolled  up  an  aggregate 
which  is  available  for  the  financing  of 
business  in  a  country  where  there  is 
never  enough  capital  to  go  around. 

Second,  Argentinos  are  learning  to 
raise  capital  through  their  own  thrift, 
instead  of  always  looking  for  money  from 
other  countries,  and  in  time  many  of 
them  will  unquestionably  graduate  into 
the  investor  class. 

Third,  one  of  the  most  urgent  needs 
in  Argentina  today  is  for  a  comfortable 
middle  class,  with  money  in  the  bank  and 
a  stake  in  the  country.  So  this  savings 
campaign,  assisting  in  the  development 
of  a  middle  class,  has  its  social  value. 

Americans  have  every  reason  to  be 
proud  of  their  two  banks  in  Buenos 
Aires,  each  building  business  and  good 
will,  and  American  business  concerns  at 
home  may  well  support  them. 

An  American  investigator  being  sent 
to  the  southern  continent  needed  a  let- 
ter of  credit.  The  accounting  depart- 
ment of  his  company  had  for  years  been 
securing  letters  of  credit  through  a  for- 
eign house  as  an  automatic  banking  oper- 
ation. This  investigator  insisted  upon 
having  an  American  letter  of  credit,  the 
first  ever  purchased  by  his  house,  and  it 
proved  highly  useful  to  him  in  South 
America,  where  supplies  of  money  were 
backed  with  personal  service  by  our 
American  branch  banks.  On  the  same 
principle  a  great  many  business  houses 
in  the  United  States  may  well  investi- 
gate their  banking  operations  with  a  view 
to  transferring  world  business  to  Ameri- 
:an  banks  abroad. 


Avenido  Rio  Branco,  the  Main  Street  of  Rio  de  Janeiro. 
Note  the  Picture  Pattern  Sidewalks 


ARTICLE  XVIII 

CHECK  PLAN  NOT  VOGUE 
EXCEPT  IN  THE  MOVIES 

J^IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Sept.  28.— An 
American  wanted  some  cash  two 
days  after  arriving  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  and 
presented  a  check  at  his  hotel  and  got  the 
money.  But  an  hour  later  the  cashier 
asked  him  to  make  out  another  check,  as 
the  first  was  wrong  in  its  Portuguese 
and  other  details. 

"We  do  not  use  many  checks  in  Bra- 
zil," said  the  clerk. 

"Is  that  so?     Why,   the   first   thing 


every  American  business  man  does  when 
he  stays  in  a  new  place  is  to  open  a 
checking  account." 

"Yes,  we  see  that  in  the  movies,"  as- 
sented the  clerk.  "In  the  United  States 
it  is  checks,  checks,  checks!" 

Another  American  took  a  Brazilian 
girl  to  the  movies  one  afternoon  without 
a  chaperone.  Next  day  a  curious  Bra- 
zilian "Johnny"  wanted  to  know  all 
about  it. 

"Did  you  see  Senorita  Corcovado  yes- 
terday?" he  asked  subtly. 

"Yes,"  replied  the  American. 

"Where  did  you  see  her?" 

"At  the  cinema." 


"Accidentally?"  asked  the  Brazilian, 
scarcely  believing  that  he  heard  rightly. 

"No — by  appointment,"  replied  the 
American  easily. 

"Well,  I  don't  understand  that  girl," 
declared  the  astonished  Brazilian.  "She 
is  getting  American  ideas!" 

COPY  AMERICAN  STYLES 

VfOVIE  FANS  at  home  have  sharp 
eyes  for  discrepancies  in  a  show. 
But  movie  fans  in  Latin  America  keep  a 
keen  watch  upon  the  details  of  our 
clothes,  furnishings  and  customs  in  the 
American  films,  and  because  the  men 
note  our  different  ways  of  working,  and 


48 


BRAZIL 


the  women  the  greater  social  freedom  of 
their  northern  sisters,  it  has  been  de- 
clared that  American  movies  are  our 
best  medium  for  really  getting  acquainted 
in  Latin  America. 

Rio  de  Janeiro  was  one  of  the  first 
cities  invaded  by  American  movies,  and 
the  first  place  abroad,  apart  from  Lon- 
don, where  an  office  was  established  for 
film  distribution.  This  happened  in  the 
fall  of  1914.  French  films  dominated 
Latin  America  then,  and  exhibitors  were 
partial  to  them ;  but  audiences  imme- 
diately liked  the  clean-cut  stories  and 
action  of  Yankee  films,  and  today  they 
are  everywhere  on  the  southern  conti- 
nent— so  much  so  that  both  the  French 
and  the  British  are  studying  our  meth- 


SIX  SHOWS  EACH  DAY 

AS  IN  most  Latin-American  countries, 
the  "section"  system  is  followed  in 
Brazil  instead  of  our  continuous  system 
of  presentation.  That  is,  theatres  give 
three  separate  shows  in  the  afternoon 
and  three  in  the  evening,  of  about  one 
hour  in  length,  each  with  its  separate 
audience.  Over  the  ticket  window  there 
are  always  two  clocks,  one  going,  show- 
ing the  real  time,  and  the  other  station- 
ary, showing  the  time  when  the  next 
show  begins. 

Rio  de  Janeiro  is  still  in  the  "store" 
stage  of  movie-theatre  development. 
Mercantile  premises,  fitted  with  stage, 
seats  and  projecting  room,  give  such  re- 
stricted capacity,  as  compared  with  the 
true    "picture   palace,"    that   in    Rio    de 


exhibitor  to  try  anything  new,  however. 
Given  a  special  demonstration  of  a  first- 
class,  high-tension  American  projecting 
machine,  he  admits  that  it  is  better  than 
his  own  rattletrap  from  Europe,  five 
years  old,  but  that,  if  installed,  he  would 
have  to  teach  his  projectors  how  to  run 
it !  He  concedes  that  there  may  be  some 
danger  in  uninclosed  film,  and  that  the 
universal  practice  with  us  of  inclosing  the 
film  has  safety  advantages,  but  then  he 
has  never  had  a  bad  fire.  And  the  same 
with  American  screens,  comfortable 
American  seats  and  other  refinements  of 
the  picture  business. 

One  exhibitor  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  is 
now  building  a  theatre  of  fairly  large  ca- 
pacity on  the  Avenida,  especially  designed 
for  picture  presentation.  But  no  argu- 
ment presented  by  experienced  Americans 


VIEW    OP    RIO    DE    JANEIRO    FROM    A    MOUNTAIN    SUMMIT    AT    CORCOVADO 


ods  of  both  production  and  distribution. 
Really,  Latin  America  has  yet  to  see 
the  real  thing  in  American  movies.  The 
films  shown  up  to  this  time  are  anywhere 
from  one  to  five  years  old.  Instead  of 
our  standard  five  reels,  the  Latin-Ameri- 
can exhibitor  chops  a  story  into  ten  to 
twenty  pieces,  and  advertises  it  as  so 
many  "acts,"  to  give  an  impression  of  big 
value  for  your  money.  Between  each 
of  the  acts  there  is  a  pause,  and  lights 
are  turned  up  with  the  idea  that  people 
want  to  see  each  other  as  well  as  the 
pictures.  Projecting  machines  and  screens 
are  far  from  modern,  so  the  pictures 
flicker,  and  are  dim,  and  frequent  break- 
age of  film  results  in  whole  episodes  dis- 
appearing from  the  story. 


Janeiro  a  curious  institution  has  grown 
up — the  salon  de  espra — where  one  audi- 
ence waits  outside  while  another  is  being 
entertained.  The  salon  de  espra  is  an 
inclosure  with  seats  and  a  separate  or- 
chestra, which  plays  maxixes,  tangos  and 
American  ragtime,  to  attract  passersby 
with  their  500  reis  pieces  and  hold  them 
until  the  next  show  opens. 

American  movie  men  maintain  that 
our  continuous  system  would  be  more 
popular  and  profitable,  for  Brazilians 
already  have  the  continuous  habit  in 
cafes,  and  would  probably  take  to  fre- 
quent short  sips  of  melodrama  as  they  do 
to  frequent  short  sips  of  coffee.  These 
salons  de  espra  are,  moreover,  main- 
tained on  some  of  the  highest  value  Ave- 
nida real  estate  in  the  Brazilian  capital. 

It  is  difficult  to  persuade  the  Brazilian 


would  persuade  him  to  install  a  Yankee 
ventilating  system. 

CUBANS  APPRECIATE 
VENTILATION 

/"'OMFORT  is  as  great  a  consideration 
with  audiences  as  the  pictures  them- 
selves. A  big  picture  palace  was  opened 
in  Havana.  It  had  the  first  typhoon  ven- 
tilating system  installed  in  Cuba.  This 
system  takes  air  from  ducts  near  the  roof, 
blows  it  down  on  the  audience  and  out 
the  front  doors,  making  a  gale  almost 
strong  enough  to  blow  one's  hat  off. 
Latin  Americans,  especially  in  the  trop- 
ics, have  almost  a  superstitious  fear  of 
ventilation.  At  first  the  Cubans  went 
into  this  theatre  against  the  gale  with 
heads  bowed  and  handkerchiefs  over  their 
mouths  and   noses.     But  box  office  re- 


BRAZIL 


49 


ceipts  showed  an  immediate  increase,  and 
in  a  few  weeks  everybody  liked  the 
greater  comfort.  As  Rio  de  Janeiro  is 
semi-tropical  part  of  the  year,  Americans 
maintain  that  ventilation  would  be  a 
profitable  box-office  investment. 

Among  the  fifty  movie  theatres  in  Rio 
de  Janeiro  and  600  throughout  Brazil, 
the  small  exhibitor,  with  his  converted 
store,  is  still  dominant.  But  Americans 
believe  that  there  are  numerous  oppor- 
tunities for  success  in  the  building  of 
real  picture  palaces,  with  presentation 
of  first-release  programs  and  good  pro- 
jection. Such  a  theatre  would  probably 
call  for  an  investment  of  $1,000,000  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro  on 
expensive  Avenida 
real  estate,  but  the 
times  are  ripe  for 
it,  and  competi- 
tion, not  so  keen 
as  at  home,  would 
give  the  first  pro- 
moter a  couple  of 
years'  leeway  to 
establish  himself. 
Other  Brazilian 
cities  offer  similar 
opportunities  with 
less  capital  —  i  n 
Sao  Paulo,  for  in- 
stance, a  live  fac- 
tory and  farming 
center,  with  nearly 
500,000  people, 
there  is  no  movie 
theatre  open  in  the 
daytime,  much  less 
a  picture  palace. 

A  n  American 
movie  man  re- 
cently visited  Bra- 
zil, offering  orig- 
inal releases  for 
the  first  time  — 
that  is,  taking  con- 
tracts for  feature 
films  still  in  the 
process  of  making, 
to  be  exhibited 
practically  as  soon 
as  shown  in  the 
United  States.  The 
exhibitors    in    Rio 

de  Janeiro,  accustomed  to  marked-down 
prices  on  films  several  years  old,  ad- 
vised him  not  to  take  the  trouble  of 
getting  his  stuff  through  the  customs 
house — his  prices  were  far  too  high  and 
his  proposition  hopeless.  But  in  two 
weeks  he  had  placed  everything  he  had, 
demonstrating  that  the  Brazilian  ex- 
hibitor is  not  so  conservative  after  all. 

Our  western  films  are  by  far  the  most 
popular  in  Brazil,  and  the  big  stars,  like 
Mary  Pickford  and  William  S.   Hart, 


and  there  the  cowboy  actor  and  the  in- 
genue of  lesser  reputation  are  just  as 
popular.  Charlie  Chaplin  is  popular  and 
widely  advertised  in  most  Latin-Ameri- 
can countries.  But  not  in  Brazil.  The 
Brazilians  say  that  he  is  "only  a  clown," 
and  it  is  difficult  to  place  him  at  bar- 
gain prices  for  ancient  releases.  But 
American  distributors  maintain  that  this 
is  due  more  to  unskillful  exploitation 
than  real  merit.  Chaplin  films  did  not 
come  to  Brazil  until  the  vogue  of  the  one 
and  two  reeler  had  passed,  and  thus  ex- 
hibitors found  difficulty  in  incorporating 
him  in  their  programs. 

Brazil  takes  nearly  one-third  as  much 


DR.    BPITACIO   PESSOA,    PRESIDENT   OP    BRAZIL,    AND   HIS    CABINET 


American  movie  film  as  England  and 
half  as  much  as  France — about  half  a 
million  feet  monthly.  Argentina  takes 
nearly  a  million  feet  monthly,  Chile  more 
than  300,000  feet  and  other  Latin- 
American  countries  in  proportion  to 
population  and  development  of  theatres. 


ARTICLE  XIX 

ATTORNEYS  EAGER  FOR 
U.  S.  LAW  BOOKS 


are  favorites  with  audiences  in  the  better  I?  IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Sept.  30. — An 
theatres  along  the  Avenida.  But  the  back-  American  book  salesman  who  can- 
bone  of  distribution,  as  at  home,  is  in  vassed  Brazil,  Argentina  and  Chile  with 
the  hands  of  smaller  outlying  theatres,  a  set  of  our  law  books    sold   $60,000 


worth  before  somebody  grabbed  him  and 
gave  him  a  bigger  job,  despite  the  fact 
that  his  books  dealt  with  American  law 
only  and  in  English.  This  reflects  the 
Latin-American  attorneys'  interest  in  our 
laws.  Very  often  the  abogado  on  the 
southern  continent  can  quote  you  a  string 
of  United  States  Supreme  Court  deci- 
sions and  draw  clear  lines  between  our 
laws  in  different  states. 

In  Brazil  this  interest  is  especially 
keen,  because  that  republic's  constitution 
is  modeled  on  our  own,  and,  therefore, 
Brazilian  attorneys  have  been  studying 
it  for  the  last  twenty-five  years. 
So  Latin-American  lawyers  are  excel- 
lent customers  for 
our  legal  publica- 
tions, and  follow- 
ing the  work  of 
this  salesman  a  big 
publishing  house  in 
New  York  is  set- 
ting up  an  organi- 
zation to  handle 
American  legal, 
medical  and  techni- 
cal books  through 
booksellers,  with 
stocks  on  the 
southern  continent. 
Again  and  again 
Brazilian  visitors 
d  rop  into  the 
American  Chamber 
of  Commerce  at 
Rio  de  Janeiro  to 
see  the  Yankee 
steel  furniture. 
Furniture  is  always 
an  interesting  prod- 
uct in  Latin 
America,  because 
high  customs  duties 
encourage  its  man- 
ufacture at  home, 
putting  the  foreign 
manufacturer  at  a 
dis  a  d  v  a  n  t  a  g  e, 
while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  latter  has 
design  in  his  favor, 
and  can  often  sell 
beautiful  and  novel 
productions  to  spe- 
cial customers  despite  tariff  charges. 

FOND  OF  ROCKING  CHAIRS 

Ij^OR  example,  some  Latin-American 
countries  are  just  discovering  the 
comfortable  American  rocking  chair, 
both  plain  and  patent,  and  perhaps  this 
interest  might  be  stimulated.  But  it  is 
not  wise  to  jump  blindly  into  Latin 
America  with  furniture,  as  other  local 
preferences  are  just  contrary — an  Ameri- 
can bedroom  set  With  its  bureau  would 
be  unsalable,  because  people  on  the  south- 
ern continent  are  accustomed  to  the 
French  wardrobe  instead,  a  substitute 
for  the  closets  which  we  build  in  every 


50 

bedroom  but  which  are  usually  absent 
there. 

In  steel  furniture,  however,  we  have 
something  that  Latin  Americans  admire 
and  want  for  its  convenience  in  filing 
papers,  its  simplicity,  beauty  and  dura- 
bility as  well  as  insect-proof  features. 
Our  sales  have  been  somewhat  limited 
in  Rio  de  Janeiro  because  customs  du- 
ties are  high  and  charged  by  weight,  and 
freight  on  such  stuff  is  high,  too. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  we  make 
special  light-weight  types  of  steel  office 
and  filing  equipment  for  export  by  way 
of  cutting  down  freight  and  tariff  costs 
and  lowering  the  price  to  the  purchaser. 

Most  of  the  attorneys  in  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro share  the  narrow  Rua  do  Rosario 
with  the  codfish  dealers,  the  latter  on 
the  ground  floor  and  the  abogados 
above.  Legal  documents  in  most  Latin- 
American  countries  must  be  made  out 
to  conform  to  government  regulations  in 
the  slightest  detail.  These  regulations 
make  for  uniformity,  but  not  always  for 
convenience  or  safety. 

Patent  documents  in  Brazil,  for  exam- 
ple, must  be  filed  in  pasteboard  boxes 
somewhat  like  those  in  which  you  buy 
pianola  rolls  and  stacked  away  on  a  dusty 
shelf,  taking  up  space  and  at  the  mercy 
of  any  one  who  throws  a  lighted  ciga- 
rette end  in  that  direction.  Millions 
upon  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  valu- 
able documents  are  filed  thus  in  attor- 
neys' offices  and  government  bureaus 
throughout  the  southern  continent.  If 
the  government  regulations  were  changed 
the  Yankee  manufacturer  of  modern  fil- 
ing equipment,  compact  and  fireproof, 
could  probably  sell  his  products  in  large 
volume.  To  change  government  regu- 
lations is  a  matter  of  education  and  ad- 
mittedly a  big  job,  but  perhaps  this  par- 
ticular job  is  best  worth  tackling  at  the 
biggest  end,  for  the  governments  them- 
selves would  be  among  the  first  cus- 
tomers, and  modern  filing  equipment 
would  unquestionably  pay  for  itself  in 
security  and  labor  saving. 

The  American  Chamber  of  Commerce 
in  Rio  de  Janeiro  now  has  its  arbitration 
agreement  with  the  Associacao  Com- 
mercial of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  Ameri- 
can business  men  are  urged  to  incor- 
porate the  arbitration  clause  in  contracts 
when  dealing  with  Brazilians.  This 
clause  is  as  follows: 

"All  disputed  questions  which  may  oc- 
casion controversy  relating  to  this  con- 
tract shall  be  submitted  to  arbitration 
under  the  rules  adopted  jointly  by  the 
Associacao  Commercial  of  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
the  United  States  of  America." 

DISPUTES  TO  BE  ARBITRATED 

HpHEN  when  disputes  arise  arbitration 
can  be  asked  for  and  will  be  con- 
ducted either  in  Brazil  or  the  United 
States  through  impartial  committees  of 
both  Brazilians  and  Americans.      If  an 


BRAZIL 


agreement  is  made  between  the  pur- 
chaser and  seller  for  arbitration  disputes 
may  be  settled  in  either  Rio  de  Janeiro 
or  New  York.  In  case  there  is  no  agree- 
ment to  this  effect  the  arbitration  will 
be  conducted  in  the  countrv  where  the 
merchandise  is  delivered  or  where  the 
controversy  arises. 

It  is  often  said  by  Yankees  in  Latin 
America  that  the  men  use  more  cold 
cream  and  perfumes  than  our  women. 
Certainly  such  toilet  articles  are  on  a 
very  different  basis  from  trade  at  home. 
In  the  United  States  a  shop  devoted 
solely  to  the  sale  of  perfumes  and  cos- 
metics is  practically  unknown,  but  even 
in  smaller  Latin- American  cities  such' 
shops  abound,  and  it  is  not  considered  un- 
usual for  the  proprietor  of  a  perfume 
shop  to  purchase  goods  by  hundreds  of 
dozens  in  one  order.  Every  barber  shop 
in  Latin  America  is  also  a  respectable 
toilet  goods  store,  with  perhaps  haber- 
dashery, hats  and  even  clothing  as  side 
lines. 

Latin  Americans  like  plenty  of  per- 
fume, and  brilliantine  and  oil  for  the  hair 
are  used  lavishly  by  both  men  and 
women.  They  like  their  perfumes  strong 
and  are  partial  to  the  most  expensive 
kinds.  At  home  such  goods  are  inciden- 
tals in  the  stocks  of  other  merchants,  but 
in  Latin  America  they  have  a  retail  dis- 
tribution entirely  their  own  and  one  of 
the  most  comprehensive  on  the  southern 
continent. 

A  big  retail  grocery  house  on  the  Ave- 
nida  Rio  Branco  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  not 
only  makes  wonderful  displays  of  tempt- 
ing eatables  in  its  windows,  but  every 
night  and  on  Sundays  makes  a  special 
floor  display  of  a  novel  kind.  There  are 
several  doors  to  the  premises,  and  these 
are  glass  right  down  to  the  floor. 
Through  these  doors  one  can  see  far  back 
into  the  store  along  the  clean  tile-paved 
floors.  Every  night  before  quitting  the 
clerks  begin  at  the  end  of  these  aisles  and 
arrange  rows  of  jars,  cartons,  bottles 
and  other  container  foods.  Marshaling 
food  packages  in  rows  like  soldiers,  they 
work  their  way  to  the  doors  and  then  fin- 
ish up  with  displays  which,  when  the 
glass  doors  are  finally  closed,  convert  the 
latter  into  additional  show  windows. 

All    over   Latin   America   the   people 


make  abundant  use  of  silk  ribbons  sym- 
bolizing the  national  colors  of  their  own 
and  other  countries.  In  Argentina  this 
ribbon  has  two  stripes  of  blue  with  one 
of  white  between ;  in  Brazil  one  stripe  of 
green  and  one  of  yellow ;  in  Uruguay 
four  stripes  of  blue  and  five  of  white, 
and  so  on. 

HAVE  SYMBOL  FOR  U.  S.  FLAG 
(")UR  own  national  colors  are  sym- 
bolized bf  four  broad  red  and  three 
broad  white  stripes  taking  about  two- 
thirds  the  width  of  the  ribbon  and  then 
four  narrow  blue  stripes  alternating  with 
three  narrow  white  stripes  to  symbolize 
the  union  section  of  our  flag — sometimes 
a  continuous  line  of  stars  is  woven  along 
the  ribbon.  The  custom  probably  arose 
from  the  everyday  relations  among 
twenty  Latin-American  republics,  each 
with  its  own  flag. 

It  is  a  pretty  and  courteous  custom,  for 
the  ribbons  are  used  as  decorations  in 
public  gatherings,  for  the  table  at  ban- 
quets and  like  purposes.  If  a  Latin 
American  sends  your  wife  a  bouquet  he 
will  not  omit  to  have  it  ornamented  with 
ribbons  symbolizing  your  country  and 
his  own,  and  if  he  happens  to  be,  say,  a 
Uruguayan  living  in  Buenos  Aires,  he 
will  add  the  ribbon  of  his  own  republic 
to  that  of  Argentina  and  the  United 
States. 

Every  ship  coming  north  to  the  United 
States  nowadays  has  its  little  group  of 
Latin-American  boys  (and  often  girls, 
too)  on  their  way  to  school  in  our  coun- 
try. Some  of  them  are  big  boys  seeking 
engineering,  medical  or  other  technical 
education.  Others  are  graduates  of 
Latin-American  universities  who  desire 
post-graduate  courses  with  us. 

Then  there  are  some  small  wild  boys, 
with  whom  the  folks  at  home  have  been 
unable  to  do  anything,  sent  to  specific 
schools  in  the  United  States  that  have 
turned  other  wild  boys'  energies  into 
useful  channels  in  the  past.  When  the 
girls  seek  schooling  it  is  usually  at  pri- 
vate seminaries,  as  university  training  for 
women  is  something  which  will  probably 
be  more  popular  tomorrow  than  it  is 
today. 


ARTICLE  XX 


LANGUAGE  OF  BRAZIL 
IS  PORTUGUESE 

J^IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Oct.  1.— At 
school  you  probably  learned  the 
major  South  American  cities  by  rote  and 
then  promptly  forgot  whether  Monte- 
video was  on  the  east  or  west  coast,  or 
Rio  de  Janeiro  on  the  Amazon  or  the 
River  Plata. 

People  forget  facts  usually  because 
they  have  no  specific  memory  pin  to  hang 
them  on. 

Here  is  a  memory  pin  for  the  capital 
of  Brazil : 


BRAZIL 


51 


Rio  de  Janeiro  is  named  after  a  river 
that  never  existed. 

Its  name  means  "River  of  January." 
The  original  discoverer,  sailing  into  the 
spacious  bay,  thought  he  had  found  the 
mouth  of  a  great  river  and  named  it  after 
the  month  of  discovery.  There  is  no 
river.  Yet  the  people  of  Rio  de  Janeiro 
proudly  call  themselves  "fluminenses," 
or  "river  folks." 

The  name  seems  long  to  strangers  and 
they  usually  make 
a  mess  of  the  pro- 
nunciation or  fall 
back  upon  the  con- 
venient and  not 
particularly  pretty 
abbreviation  of 
"Rio."  A  Brazil- 
ian will  quickly 
teach  you  to  pro- 
nounce the  whole 
name  quickly  and 
easily — he  uses  a 
French  "j"  and 
slurs  the  "de"  so 
you  can  hardly 
hear  it,  saying  "Rio 
d'Zhuh-nare-o."  It 
will  sound  to  you 
more  like  "Rio- 
zhuh-nare-o." 

Business  corre- 
spondence and  ad- 
vertising matter  in 
Spanish  are  con- 
stantly coming  to 
Brazil  from  the 
United  States,  re- 
gardless of  the  fact 
that  Portuguese  is 
the  national  lan- 
guage. Students  of 
Spanish  at  home 
vaguely  assume 
that  it  will  be 
something  just  as 
good  in  Brazil,  or 
that  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  are  so 
much  alike  that 
there  isn't  really 
any  great  differ- 
ence. 

Actually  the  lan- 
guages are  vastly 
different  in  char- 
act  e  r,  grammar, 
spelling  and  pro- 
nunciation, Portuguese  being  by  far 
more  difficult  of  the  two. 


But  French  is  a  far  better  language  to 
know,  because  many  Brazilians,  like  the 
educated  Spanish-American,  speak 
French,  having  learned  it  at  school.  And 
many  also  speak  English,  because  Brazil- 
ians have  long  been  doing  busi- 
ness with  Yankees,  and  are  easily  our 
warmest  friends  in  Latin  America  and 
like  to  do  us  the  service  of  learning  our 
language.  Spanish  advertising  literature 
and  catalogues  are  understood  in  Brazil, 


NEW   PALACE    HOTEL. 


BUSINESS   MEN'S    HEADQUARTERS    IN   RIO 


the 


FRENCH  LANGUAGE  USED 

TN  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  other  Brazilian 
ports  so  many  visitors  are  constantly 
dropping  in  from  the  Spanish  countries 
that  the  language  is  comprehended  and 
the  Brazilian  replying  in  Portuguese  un- 
derstood. Even  an  amateur's  smatter- 
ing of  Spanish  gets  results,  because  many 
of  the  servants  are  Spanish  immigrants. 


but  also  resented,  for  they  convey  the 
notion  that  the  country  was  not  consid- 
ered important  enough  to  justify  separate 
translation  into  Portuguese. 

The  American  taking  up  a  language  at 
home  invariably  chooses  Spanish,  assum- 
ing that  Portuguese  is  negligible.  But 
it  is  well  to  know  that  every  third  per- 
son in  Latin  America  speaks  Portuguese, 
and  that  Brazil  has  25,000,000  popula- 
tion against  about  35,000,000  Spanish- 
speaking  population  south  of  the  Panama 


Canal,  while  in  area  Brazil,  larger  than 
the  United  States,  excluding  Alaska,  has 
3,295,000  square  miles,  against  3,755,000 
square  miles  of  Spanish-speaking  coun- 
tries in  South  America  proper. 

BRAZIL  RETAINS  OLD  PORTU- 
GUESE SYSTEM  OF  COINAGE 

gRAZILIAN  money  is  also  different. 
Strangers  usually  find  it  puzzling, 
because  everything  is  priced  in  "reis."  A 
nickel  coin  as  big  as  our  half  dollar, 
marked  400  reis, 
looks  like  a  lot  of 
money,  but  is 
really  only  a  ten- 
c  e  n  t  tip  for  a 
waiter.  Rather 
oddly  we  have  the 
same  sort  of  money 
ourselves.  For 
there  are,  theoret- 
ically, ten  mills  in 
a  cent,  and  if  we 
called  a  dime  100 
mills  and  a  dollar 
1000  mills  we 
would  have  the 
equivalent  of  Bra- 
zilian money.  The 
Brazilian  dollar  is 
the  mil  reis,  or 
"1000  reis,"  but  it 
happens  to  be 
worth  in  our 
money  today  only 
twenty-five  cents. 

The  system  came 
from  Portugal. 
Back  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  when 
real  money  was 
scarce,  and  labor- 
ers earned  a  penny 
a  day,  and  a  shill- 
ing would  buy  as 
much  as  a  five-dol- 
lar bill  now,  the 
smallest  P  o  r  t  u- 
guese  coin  was  the 
"real,"  plural 
"reis."  In  those 
happy  times  a 
"real"  would  actu- 
ally buy  something. 
But  today  1000 
"reales"  buy  very 
little.  Portugal 
has  abolished  this 
system,  but  it  still 
prevails  in  Brazil,  and  a  very  little  of 
our  money  figured  in  this  way  makes 
you  a  millionaire — until  you  come  to 
pay  2000  reis  for  a  cigar  and  20,000 
reis  for  a  dinner,  and  find  you  are  only  a 
milreisiono. 

But  about  that  time  you  will  probably 
discover  the  "conto." 

An  American  woman  saw  some  pearl 
necklaces  in  a  jeweler's  window  on  the 
Avenida  Rio  Branco,  priced  at  what  ap- 
peared to  be  eight  milreis,  or  two  dol- 


52 


BRAZIL 


PALACIO   MONROE.    WHERE    THE    BRAZILIAN   CONGRESS    MEETS 


lars.  "What  wonderful  imitations!" 
she  said,  entering  the  shop  and  choosing 
critically  from  a  huge  tray  laid  before 
her. 

But  the  real  price  was  eight  contos! 
She  had  not  noticed  the  little  colon  mark 
after  the  eight,  nor  did  she  then  know 
what  it  meant.  A  conto  is  1000  milreis, 
or  $250,  and  her  imitation  necklaces  were 
the  real  thing  at  $2000  a  string! 

Sums  of  Brazilian  money  are  written 
in  a  way  that  is  odd,  yet  quite  logical. 
Reading  from  right  to  left  come  first  the 
reis  like  our  cents,  occupying  three  places 
instead  of  two,  however;  then  a  dollar 
mark,  and  after  that  the  milreis  are 
written  up  to  999.  Then  comes  the 
colon  mark  and  after  that  the  contos 
begin. 

Here  is  the  way  it  looks,  the  sum  be- 
ing two  thousand  one  hundred  milreis 
five  hundred  reis:  2:100$500. 

AMERICANS  LOOKED  TO  FOR 
DEVELOPMENT  OF  RESOURCES 

A  NOTHER  little  oddity  is  Brazilian 
time,  the  twenty-four-hour  system 
being  quite  generally  followed,  so  that 
your  dinner  begins  at  nineteen  o'clock, 
and  the  theatre  at  twenty  and  three- 
quarters  o'clock — the  hours  are  counted 
from  midnight  and  these  are  equivalent 
to  seven  and  eight  forty-five  p.  m. 

Yankees  are  still  distinctly  a  novelty 
on  the  streets  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  as  in 
Buenos  Aires.  The  Brazilians  take  close 
note  of  their  clothes  and  behavior,  but 
without  staring.  Old-timers  say  there 
has  not  been  so  interesting  a  street  at- 
traction since  pre-war  days,  when  British 


colonials  stopped  off  on  the  way  home 
and  walked  up  the  Rio  Branco  in  their 
pith  helmets.  A  funny  feature  of  the 
city's  carnival   time   is  the  pith  helmet. 

The  warmth  of  Brazilian  feeling  to- 
ward Yankees  today  is  very  marked.  For 
a  hundred  years  or  more  Yankees  had 
been  rolling  down  to  Rio  for  trade,  whal- 
ing and  other  ends,  but  not  in  force,  and 
the  Brazilians,  like  other  Latin  Ameri- 
cans, made  Yankeeland  itself  a  profitable 
bugaboo  in  their  heated  politics.  When 
war  brought  Yankee  goods,  however,  and 
later  the  Yankees  themselves,  and  Brazil 
was  second  only  to  Cuba  in  following  us 
into  the  war,  her  viewpoint  changed,  of 
course,  and  she  now  welcomes  Americans, 
looking  to  them  to  assist  in  the  develop- 
ment of  her  enormous  resources. 

The  future  is  in  our  own  hands. 

Upon  this  cordial  feeling  broad-gauge, 
constructive  Americans  must  build  in 
Brazil,  and  for  the  Brazilians,  in  the 
biggest  possible  way. 

ARTICLE  XXI 

U.  S.  CREDENTIALS 
NEEDED  IN  TRADING 

J^IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Oct.  2.— An 
American  export  manager  went 
down  to  Rio  de  Janeiro  himself  to  estab- 
lish trade  connections.  He  found  an 
importer  capable  of  handling  his  line,  and 
gradually  worked  up  the  deal  until  it 
was  hot  and  the  importer  enthusiastic 
and  ready  to  sign  a  contract.  Then  he 
found  that,  through  a  slip  of  his  corpora- 
tion's legal  department  at  home,  he 
lacked  power  of  attorney  and  could  not 


sign  himself  until  one  arrived  by  ship  on 
urgent  cable  message — a  wait  of  five 
weeks.  No  salesman  need  be  told  how 
buying  enthusiasm  slumps  from  the  peak 
during  such  a  stage  wait.  By  the  time 
power  of  attorney  arrived  that  importer 
had  cut  his  order  in  half. 

In  another  case  the  president  of  a  large 
American  corporation  visited  Brazil  to 
investigate  supplies  of  raw  materials.  A 
big  deal  was  shaped  up,  promising  great 
economies  to  his  company  and  new  mar- 
kets for  the  delighted  Brazilians.  When 
it  came  to  signing  contracts  he  was  un- 
able to  prove  himself  president  of  that 
corporation,  or,  had  he  been  able,  could 
not  prove  the  scope  of  his  authority. 
Power  of  attorney  would  have  made 
everything  smooth,  or,  failing  that,  a 
certified  copy  of  the  meeting  of  his  cor- 
poration's board  of  directors  showing  his 
election  to  office,  backed  by  an  extract 
from  the  by-laws  indicating  the  scope  of 
his  authority  as  president. 

Legal  complications  may  look  insignifi- 
cant when  one  starts  for  Latin  America 
or  sends  a  representative.  American 
business  men  assume  that  there  are  law- 
yers down  there  who  can  "straighten 
things  out."  But  from  the  other  end 
very  small  trifles  often  create  large  legal 
complications,  and  though  Latin  America 
abounds  in  able  lawyers,  they  can  do  lit- 
tle for  the  Yankee  visitor  who  has  come 
unprepared. 

AMERICAN  HAS  PRACTICE 

T7IEW  this  situation  through  the  eyes 

of  an  American  attorney  practicing 

in  Brazil — Dr.  Richard  P.  Momsen,  the 


BRAZIL 


53 


neiro  it  is  turned  into  Portuguese  by  an 
official  translator,  whose  version  alone 
is  accepted  in  the  courts. 


only  American  ever  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  Brazil,  and  also  the  only  foreigner. 

Doctor  Momsen  started  his  career  as 
secretary  to  a  congressman  in  Washing- 
ton, studied  law  nights  and  was  admit- 
ted to  our  bar.     He  then  went  into  the      JT  MUST  be  certified  by  a  Brazilian 
consular  service,  beginning  as  a  stenog- 


POWER  MUST  BE  CERTIFIED 


rapher  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  rising  to 
full  charge  when  Consul  Oottschalk, 
coming  home  during  the  war,  was  lost 
on  the  Cyclops.  Again  studving  nights 
at  the  Law  Faculty  of  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
he  passed  the  stiff  examinations  and  was 
admitted  to  the  Brazilian  bar  in  1917. 
Today  he  has  a  law  office  specializing  in 
American  practice,  with  three  Brazilian 
partners.  One  of  them  is  a  law  gradu- 
ate of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
Dr.  Pedro  Americo  Werneck,  who  han- 
dles trademark  and  patent  cases,  with 
the  assistance  of  his  brother,  a  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania  engineering  gradu- 
ate, whose  technical  knowledge  is  highly 
important  in  the  handling  of  such  cases, 
as  will  be  seen  later.  Another  Brazilian 
partner  specializes  in  translations,  and 
the  third  in  marine  practice,  rapidly 
growing  as  our  merchant  marine  in- 
creases. 

Until  this  office  was  established  the 
American  business  concern  with  interests 
in  Brazil  had  difficulty  in  getting  opin- 
ions on  Brazilian  law  in  English.  There 
are  able  Brazilian  lawyers  who  speak 
English,  of  course,  but  the  problem  goes 
deeper  than  language.  To  handle  Bra- 
zilian legal  matters  for  American  clients 
one  must  know  something  of  American 
law  and  business  methods,  and  how  one's 
client  thinks  and  does  business,  and  what 
he  wants  specifically  to  do  in  Brazil. 

Take  powers  of  attorney  as  an  exam- 
ple. Doctor  Mom- 
sen  says  that  every 
business  man  com- 
ing to  Latin  Amer- 
ica on  any  mission 
whatever  should 
have  a  power  of 
attorney  drawn  up 
with  the  widest 
scope  and  most 
careful  exactness. 
This  is  so  impor- 
tant that  he  is  pre- 
paring a  pamphlet 
for  American  at- 
torneys, showing 
how  such  a  docu- 
ment should  b  e 
drafted. 

The  power  of 
attorney  can  be 
written  in  English. 
This  gives  greater 
accuracy  and  free- 
dom than  any  at- 
tempt at  Portu- 
guese, and  upon  ar- 
rival in  Rio  de  Ja- 


consul  in  the  United  States — abso- 
lutely ! 

If  more  than  one  country  is  to  be  vis- 
ited, there  should  be  separate  powers  of 
attorney  for  each  country,  for  an  Ameri- 
can who  appoints  a  representative  in  Bra- 
zil and  then  goes  on  to  Argentina  must 
often  provide  his  representative  with  an 
original  power  of  attorney,  to  be  pro- 
duced if  the  latter  carries  out  any  unfin- 
ished business  involving  legal  matters. 

A  telegraphed  power  of  attorney  is  not 
recognized  in  Brazilian  law. 

Powers  must  be  detailed  and  broad, 
because  Brazilian  law  interprets  them  in 
the  narrowest  terms.  Among  some  thirty 
broad  requirements  for  an  American 
doing  legal  business  in  Brazil,  Doctor 
Momsen  enumerates: 

Power  to  sell,  give  away  and  by  other 
means  alienate  property;  to  mortgage 
property;  to  admit  and  settle  debts,  give 
receipts  and  releases,  draw  and  indorse 
and  accept  bills  of  exchange,  transfer 
bonds  of  public  debt,  issue  and  indorse 
and  guarantee  promissory  notes;  to  ap- 
point arbitrators  and  accept  their  deci- 
sions ;  to  name  and  appoint  attorneys,  rep- 
resentatives and  substitutes,  without 
which  legal  proceedings  in  the  Brazilian 
courts  cannot  be  instituted;  to  organize 
corporations,  vote  at  stockholders'  meet- 


certain  circumstances  a  power  of  attor- 
ney should  even  cover  the  right  to  con- 
tract or  annul  marriage  or  take  public 
office. 

Official  translating  is  a  very  large  part 
of  legal  practice  where  American  con- 
cerns do  business  in  Brazil.  Briefs  and 
legal  papers,  evidence  and  powers  of  at- 
torney, and  even  correspondence,  must 
be  put  into  Portuguese  by  translators 
who  are  themselves  attorneys  and  author- 
ized by  the  courts  to  do  the  work.  Ap- 
plications for  patents  and  the  registry  of 
trademarks  require  a  technical  knowledge 
as  well  as  good  Portuguese  and  good  law, 
because  a  very  slight  error  in  turning  a 
claim  from  one  language  into  the  other 
might  cause  the  loss  of  valuable  rights 
and  open  the  way  to  lawsuits  later. 

Doctor  Momsen  says  that  such  papers 
should  always  be  drawn  by  lawyers  in 
the  United  States,  as  only  experts  can 
cover  all  points  and  meet  Brazilian  offi- 
cial requirements.  Applications  must  be 
made  in  specified  form,  on  paper  of  speci- 
fied size,  and  with  drawings  made  in 
specified  ways.  In  his  own  practice  he 
works  with  expert  patent  attorneys  in 
the  United  States,  and  constantly  keeps 
them  posted  on  changes  in  the  Brazilian 
requirements. 

Another  important  branch  of  practice 
is  the  registry  and  protection  of  Ameri- 
can trademarks.  Like  most  Latin-Ameri- 
can countries,  Brazil  permits  the  regis- 
try of  foreign  trademarks  regardless  of 
true  ownership,  so  that  valuable  Ameri- 
can trademark  rights  have  been  stolen. 
No  reputable  Brazilian  business  concern 


ings  of  corporations,  make  declarations  would  register  an  unprotected  foreign 
under  oath,  accept  or  contest  legacies,  test  trademark,  and  this  kind  of  theft  is  not 
the  capacity  of  judges  in  court.     Under      as  common  as  is  assumed. 

BE   WARY   OF 
TRADEMARKS 

"DUT  petty  trick- 
sters, and  some- 
times enemies,  reg- 
ister a  foreign 
trademark  in  Bra- 
zil, and  later  when 
the  rightful  owner 
wishes  to  sell  his 
goods  in  Brazil 
under  that  mark  he 
must  buy  the  rights 
or  have  his  goods 
seized. 

This  suggests 
that  Latin  -  Amer- 
ican countries  have 
a  philosophy  differ- 
ent from  our  own 
in  trademark  mat- 
ters— as  they  have. 

Because  valuable 
trademark  rights 
have  not  been  built 
up  in  those  coun- 
tries  to    the    same 


FEDERAL  HOUSE   OF  REPRESENTATIVES    IN    SESSION 


54 


BRAZIL 


PRESIDENT   WILSON   STREET   IN   RIO   DE   JANEIRO,    NAMED  AS  AN   EXPRESSION   OF 

BRAZILIAN   ADMIRATION 


extent  as  in  the  United  States,  legislation 
is  not  yet  so  clearly  developed.  Two  gen- 
eral systems  of  trademark  legislation 
prevail  throughout  the  world — the  de- 
clarative and  the  attributive.  We  fol- 
low the  declarative  system,  under  which 
trademark  rights  are  acquired  by  use, 
and  registration  is  only  prima  facie  evi- 
dence of  ownership,  and  may  be  over- 
come by  counterevidence.  Brazil  fol- 
lows the  attributive  system,  under  which 
ownership  does  not  arise  from  use,  but 
out  of  an  administrative  act,  that  of 
registration. 

Working  with  the  American  Chamber 
of  Commerce  for  Brazil,  as  legal  adviser, 
Doctor  Momsen  is  now  suggesting  cer- 
tain modifications  of  Brazilian  trade- 
mark laws.  Perhaps  the  most  important 
is  to  extend  the  period  allowed  for  suit 
in  case  of  trademark  theft  to  five  years. 
At  present  an  unscrupulous  sharper  can 
register  an  unprotected  American  trade- 
mark in  Brazil,  and  after  six  months  the 
original  owner  in  the  United  States,  who 
may  not  be  aware  at  all  that  his  trade- 
mark has  been  stolen,  loses  all  right  to 
take  legal  action.  The  disposition  of  the 
Brazilian  authorities  seems  to  favor 
modifications  of  the  law. 

Still  another  thriving  branch  of  prac- 
tice is  the  incorporation  of  American  con- 
cerns in  Brazil.  So  long  as  American 
houses  do  business  simply  through  a  Bra- 
zilian importer,  transactions  are  chiefly 
on  a  basis  of  sale  and  purchase.  But  when 
a  representative  is  sent  and  a  branch 
opened  there  is  every  advantage  in  form- 
ing a  separate  Brazilian  corporation,  or 
at  least  obtaining  authority  from  the  Bra- 
zilian Government  to  operate  in  the 
country  as  a  domesticated  foreign  cor- 
poration. 

Brazilian  corporations  pay  a  federal 
tax  of  5  per  cent  upon  their  dividends, 


and  this  has  unquestionably  led  some 
American  concerns  to  look  upon  Brazil- 
ian incorporation  as  an  expense  rather 
than  an  advantage,  or  to  be  satisfied  with 
domestication,  as  a  domesticated  foreign 
corporation  is  exempt  from  this  tax.  But 
in  many  cases  Brazilian  incorporation 
gives  business  facility  worth  many  times 
the  cost  of  taxation. 

A  Brazilian  corporation,  for  example, 
is  exempt  from  burdensome  taxes  now 
being  levied  by  other  countries.  It  per- 
mits enlisting  Brazilian  capital  and  direc- 
tors. The  Brazilian  Government  may 
cancel  a  domesticated  foreign  corpora- 
tion's right  to  do  business  in  the  coun- 
try, but  not  that  of  a  Brazilian  corpora- 
tion. 

In  addition  to  strict  legal  requirements 
and  the  difficulties  of  official  translation, 
there  are  certain  formalities  to  be  ob- 
served and  certain  taxes  to  be  paid  in 
forming  a  Brazilian  corporation  or  do- 
mesticating a  foreign  corporation  in  Bra- 
zil, so  that  legal  aid  of  the  best  kind  is 
needed. 


ARTICLE  XXII 

NO  ANTI-U.  S.  FEELING 
AMONG  BEST  CITIZENS 

J^IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Oct.  3.— In  a 
world  full  of  gossip  about  trade  en- 
mity toward  the  Yankees  and  rumors  of 
anti-American  propaganda,  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro holds  the  distinction  of  being  the 
one  place  where  anti-American  propa- 
ganda has  really  come  to  the  surface  in 
printed  form  and  received  international 
attention. 

"You  will  find  Rio  de  Janeiro  a  hot- 
bed of  anti-Americanism,"  the  writer  was 
told  in  Buenos  Aires,  with  intimations 
that  printed  attacks  on  Americans  were 
being  inspired  there  by  the  British.     De- 


cidedly curious  to  see  just  what  a  real 
hotbed  of  such  propaganda  might  really 
be  and  ascertain  just  how  it  works,  this 
was  one  of  the  first  matters  investigated. 

The  printed  anti-Americanism  was 
tangible  enough,  and  will  be  remembered 
by  newspaper  readers  in  the  United 
States.  Last  May  Associated  Press  dis- 
patches reported  that  Madeiros  de  Albu- 
querque, one  of  the  prominent  journal- 
ists of  Brazil,  had  attacked  a  rumored 
project  to  cancel  some  of  the  war  debts 
of  England  and  France  by  surrender- 
ing securities  of  Brazilian  railways  to  the 
United  States.  This  would  have  trans- 
ferred the  control  and  operation  of  Bra- 
zil's railways  to  the  Yankees. 

Only  two  months  before  Senhor  Albu- 
querque had  been  in  the  United  States, 
writing  warmly  about  our  idealism,  our 
war  sacrifices  and  our  war  effort.  Turn- 
ing from  a  friend  into  an  open  enemy,  he 
followed  up  his  first  article  with  paid 
notices  in  a  Rio  de  Janeiro  newspapers, 
over  his  signature.  These  articles  were 
published  in  a  way  peculiar  to  Brazilian 
journalism.  Anybody  with  anything  to 
say  can  insert  it  as  a  paid  notice  in  a  spe- 
cial department  of  a  newspaper  and  make 
his  views  as  strong  as  he  pleases.  The 
articles  alleged  the  old  motives  of  con- 
quest in  Latin  America  by  the  United 
States,  which  have  long  been  a  staple  in 
politics  on  the  southern  continent — not  to 
speak  of  Canada. 

MOVIE  EXPERIENCE 
INFLUENCED  JOURNALIST 

gRAZILIANS  in  the  United  States 
made  every  effort  to  discredit  these 
articles.  Senhor  Sevastiao  Sampaio,  Bra- 
zilian consul  at  St.  Louis,  gave  the  news- 
papers one  of  Albuquerque's  previous  ar- 
ticles praising  the  United  States.  Bra- 
zilian students  and  visitors  wrote  to  our 
newspapers  expressing  their  own  cordial 
feeling  and  insisting  that  Albuquerque 
was  not  representative  of  real  Brazilian 
feeling  toward  us. 

When  President-elect  Pessoa  visited 
the  United  States  some  weeks  later  he 
did  not  touch  upon  the  matter,  but  mem- 
bers of  his  party  answered  questions  with 
a  subtle  syllogism.    They  said : 

"There  are  some  international  things. 
Money  is  an  international  thing.  This 
man  is  an  international  man." 

Viewed  in  his  own  home  town,  Senhor 
Madeiros  de  Albuquerque  is  an  interest- 
ing figure.  During  an  extravagant  presi- 
dential administration  some  years  ago  he 
courageously  opposed  people  in  power 
and  spent  four  years  in  France  as  a  con- 
sequence, a  voluntary  exile.  For  years 
his  articles  have  been  influential  in  Bra- 
zil, and  lie  is  also  a  journalist  of  reputa- 
tion in  France.  For  journalistic  services 
to  the  allies  he  was  decorated  with  the 
Legion  of  Honor.  But  when  Brazilians 
in  the  United  States  declared  that  this 
journalist  was  not  representative  they 
meant  more  than  was  said  openly — that 


BRAZIL 


55 


through  distinct  changes  in  his  views  dur- 
ing the  last  few  years  he  has  lost  prestige 
in  the  Brazilian  press. 

To  explain  the  sudden  cooling  of  his 
friendship  for  the  United  States  in  the 
early  spring  of  1919  an  interesting  story 
is  told. 

The  story  goes  that  Senhor  Albu- 
querque brought  some  movie  scenarios  of 
his  own  writing  to  the  United  States,  and 
that  they  were  submitted  to  the  scenario 
departments  of  a  dozen  big  movie  con- 
cerns. Evidently  not  the  sort  of  stuff 
of  which  movie  dramas  are  made,  they 
all  came  back  with  printed  rejection  slips. 
If  this  be  true,  then  Senhor  Albuquerque 
may  be  pardoned  for  thinking  that  our 
idealism  was  permeated  with  business 
practicality — and  we  can  still  like  him 
for  his  sturdy  opposition  in  the  past  to 
objectionable  politics  in  his  own  country. 

The  big  man's  writings  encouraged 
some  little  writers  in  Rio  de  Janeiro. 
Certain  small  newspapers  in  that  city  of 
abundant  newspapers  began  printing  ma- 
licious anti-American  squibs  of  a  kind  not 
very  subtle,  yet  irritating  to  Yankees  in 
Brazil.  These  squibsters  alleged  that 
Washington  was  only  a  traitor,  Monroe 
an  earlier  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  that  Thomas 
Jefferson  was  not  good  to  his  mother, 
and  so  on.  Their  irritation  lay  mostly 
in  their  scurrility. 

BRAZIL  PRESS  POPULARIZES 
PROPAGANDA 

COME  Yankees  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  grew 
so  restive  that  they  went  to  the  edi- 
tor of  an  offending  paper  and  said  they 
would  withdraw  their  advertising  if  the 
articles  continued.  Now  they  admit  that 
they  were  excited.  The  articles  stopped, 
but  their  author  was  taken  into  the  col- 
umns of  a  still  smaller  newspaper,  which 
ran  them  for  some  weeks. 

One  day,  when  this  author  appeared 
with  a  fresh  budget  of  anti-American  ar- 
ticles, the  editor  received  him  coolly. 

"Not  a  single  American  has  been 
around  here  to  offer  us  advertising  to 
stop  printing  your  articles  since  we 
began,"  he  said,  in  disgust. 

There  has  been  other  propaganda  in 
the  Brazilian  press  against  France  and 
the  allies  generally,  over  questions  like 
the  German  ships  seized  by  Brazil  and 
Italy's  interest  in  Fiume.  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro has  a  large  Italian  colony,  and  it 
made  anti-American  demonstrations  dur- 
ing the  Peace  Conference.  But  both 
demonstrations  and  articles  bubble  up 
freely  in  Latin  countries  during  such 
times  of  tension — and  bubble  down  again 
just  as  quickly. 

In  respect  to  feeling  between  Britons 
and  Americans,  Rio  de  Janeiro  offers  a 
curious  paradox.  On  one  hand  it  has  its 
fine  Club  Central,  where  Britons  and 
Yankees  gather  daily  and  every  effort 
is -made  to  encourage  teamwork  on  both 
sides.  But  because  Americans  have  gained 
a  strong  foothold  in  Brazilian  trade  dur- 


ing the  war,  and  Britons  are  naturally 
apprehensive  just  now,  and  also  because 
British  ships  carry  our  business  men  and 
goods,  and  communication  between  Bra- 
zil and  the  United  States  is  over  British 
cables,  there  are  ample  opportunities  for 
irritation. 

An  American  salesman  sent  several 
urgent  business  cables  to  his  house  in 
New  York.  Days  passed,  but  he  re- 
ceived no  reply.  After  turning  over 
every  contingency  in  his  mind,  he  -began 
to  wonder  if  there  might  not  be  some- 
thing in  rumors  of  British  cable  censor- 
ship on  American  business  affairs. 
Finally,  he  went  to  the  cable  office  to 
take  the  matter  up  with  the  manager,  and 
discovered  that  the  reply  had  been  wait- 
ing there  a  week,  but  with  his  name  gar- 
bled so  that  delivery  had  been  impossible. 

POOR  ACCOMMODATIONS  ON 
BRITISH  STEAMSHIPS 

A  WEALTHY  American  business 
man  who  wanted  to  go  home  from 
Buenos  Aires  found  that  the  earliest  pas- 
sage obtainable  was  by  a  British  ship  to 
England  and  from  there  to  New  York. 
He  paid  nearly  $2000  for  the  three  best 
cabins  on  the  boat.  He  is  a  big  man 
physically.  On  the  short  run  across  to 
Montevideo  the  food  proved  so  bad  and 
the  beds  so  narrow  that  in  the  Uruguayan 
capital  he  bought  his  own  beds  and  $150 
worth  of  provisions. 

Even  this  did  not  make  the  ship  tolera- 
ble, because  it  was  dirty.  Conditions  of 
filth  in  baths  and  toilet  rooms  were  inde- 
scribable. The  captain,  just  released  from 
service  on  a  British  mine  sweeper,  lis- 
tened to  the  American's  request  that  a 
little  soap  and  water  be  used  in  the  toi- 
lets connected  with  his  cabin,  and  sent 
around  a  steward,  who  whitened  things 
up  a  bit  with  disinfecting  powder. 

This  American  decided  to  break  his 
voyage  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  taking  his 
chances  of  getting  a  ship  from  there  to 
New  York.  Despite  the  fact* that  dozens 
of  passengers  were  available  from  Rio  de 
•  Janeiro  to  England,  the  steamship  com- 


pany refused  to  refund  passage  money  for 
the  remainder  of  the  voyage,  or  to  permit 
the  American  to  sell  the  rest  of  the  pas- 
sage himself.  That  ship  left  Brazil  with- 
out a  single  American  or  British  passen- 
ger aboard,  others  having  broken  their 
voyage  for  the  same  reason.  The  infer- 
ence is  that  this  American's  cabins  were 
sold  again  by  the  steamship  company,  and 
when  Americans  discuss  treatment  like 
that,  they  naturally  look  forward  to  the 
establishment  of  our  own  passenger  facili- 
ties. 


ARTICLE  XXIII 

U.  S.  NEEDS  GOOD  SHIPPING 
AGENTS  AT  FOREIGN  PORTS 

OIO  DE  JANEIRO,  Oct.  5.— Wash- 
ington has  two  tough  old  nags  on 
which  it  loads  every  odd  job — the  post- 
master at  home  and  the  United  States 
consul  abroad. 

When  Washington  began  operating 
merchant  ships,  and  it  became  necessary 
to  look  after  our  shipping  interests  in  the 
world's  ports,  it  was  apparently  natural 
for  the  government  mind  to  say : 

"Why,  we  have  consuls  in  every  port 
in  the  world — let  the  consul  be  our  ship- 
ping agent !" 

And  thus  it  comes  that  merchant  ships 
operated  by  Uncle  Sam,  reaching  as  im- 
portant a  port  as  Rio  de  Janeiro,  are 
handled  by  the  United  States  consul. 
Already  overburdened  with  work,  he  is 
not  familiar  with  shipping  business.  Yet 
Washington  pits  him  against  some  of  the 
best  shipping  agents  in  the  world.  Even 
our  new  privately  owned  merchant  ships, 
while  handled  by  agents  in  such  a  port, 
are  usually  turned  over  to  representa- 
tives of  other  nationalities,  and,  often 
blindly,  by  cable. 

In  going  to  school  to  learn  the  ocean 
game  all  over  again  we  seem  to  have 
skipped  some  important  lessons.  In  the 
first  Primer  of  Ocean  Shipping  there  is 
a  whole  lesson  devoted  to  the  shipping 
agent  skipped  or  forgotten.  If  we  had 
learned  that  lesson  thoroughly  we  would 


MAKING  A  QUICK  REPUTATION  FOR  A  U.   S.   AUTO 


CIRCUS    STUNT 


56 


BRAZIL 


never  be  trying  to 
handle  our  mer- 
chant ships  abroad 
by  long  distance. 

The  shipping 
agent  is  to  ships 
what  the  traffic 
manager  is  to  rail- 
roads, plus  the  di- 
vision superintend- 
ent, the  chief  train 
dispatcher,  the  din- 
ing car  superin- 
tendent and  a  good 
squad  of  freight 
solicitors.  Put  in 
railroading  terms, 
we  should  realize 
its  importance.  Not 
even  a  Washing- 
ton bureau  chief, 
given  a  railroad 
train,  would  try  to 
run  it  from  New 
York  to  San  Fran- 
cisco and  back 
without  the  aid  of 

these  skilled  railroaders.  But  given  a 
brand-new  ship  and  right  of  way  on  the 
ocean,  we  try  to  do  it  in  ocean  transpor- 
tation— and  it  doesn't  work  at  all. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  Ameri- 
can merchant  ships  without  first-class 
American  shipping  agents  in  every  port 
are  worse  than  no  ships  at  all,  whereas 
even  foreign  ships  chartered  and  worked 
by  American  shipping  agents  might  be 
made  efficient  tools  for  building  up  our 
world  trade. 

First  of  all,  a  ship  must  have  freight. 
Freight  calls  for  salesmanship  and  serv- 
ice on  the  ocean  no  less  than  the  railroad. 
We  solicit  a  cargo  of  miscellaneous 
freight  at  home,  send  it  in  one  of  our 
new  ships  to  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  leave 
the  rest  to  a  foreign  agent  whom  we  have 
never  seen  or  to  the  United  States  con- 
sul.   What  happens  ? 

WATCH  FOR  PILFERING 

AMONG  other  things  this: 

There  is  much  pilfering  of  mer- 
chandise between  the  United  States  and 
Latin  America.  Cases  arrive  apparently 
intact,  but  with  valuable  goods  gone. 
When  such  shipments  are  opened  at  the 
Brazilian  customs  house  the  authorities 
send  for  the  shipping  agent  to  verify  the 
shortage.  Agents  of  British,  Brazilian 
and  other  ships  not  only  verify  promptly, 
but  immediately  pay  consignees  the  value 
of  stolen  goods — which  is  shipping  serv- 
ice. Agents  of  American  ships  have  the 
reputation  today  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  of 
neglecting  such  matters,  whereupon  the 
consignee  is  notified,  compelled  to  go 
through  a  tedious  official  routine  and  re- 
ceives no  compensation  for  stolen  goods. 
Naturally  he  asks  that  his  next  shipment 
of  goods  from  the  United  States  be  sent 
by  British  or  Brazilian  steamers. 


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TYPE    OF    BRIDGE    IX    RIO    HARBOR.      PEOPLE  ARE   FERRIED  OVER  INSTEAD   OF 

WALKING 


In  ordinary  times  return  cargoes  from 
Brazil  to  the  United  States  are  the  chief 
factor  in  keeping  ships  busy.  There  is 
active  competition  in  soliciting  Brazilian 
freight.  We  really  need  well-paid  traf- 
fic men  who  can  create  freight  through 
service,  as  is  done  by  our  railroads.  For 
lack  of  such  men  abroad  in  the  past, 
quite  as  much  as  for  lack  of  ships,  other 
countries  have  controlled  our  ocean  traf- 
fic and  built  their  own  trade  at  our  ex- 
pense. 

Ships  have  to  be  turned  around 
quickly.  In  his  capacity  as  train  dis- 
patcher the  competent  shipping  agent  is 
waiting  to  board  a  vessel  the  moment  the 
port  authorities  have  finished  with  her, 
has  her  papers,  berth  and  stevedores 
ready,  takes  her  captain  to  the  consignee 
in  his  car  and  saves  hours  of  time  in 
turning  her  around  at  several  hundred 
dollars  an  hour.  If  the  agent  is  an  in- 
competent long-distance  appointee,  or, 
worse  yet,  an  alien  with  alien  business 
interests,  he  may  waste  days  where  the 
competent  agent  saves  hours — and  the 
distant  owners  in  the  United  States  have 
no  way  of  checking  him  up. 

What  happens  when  Washington 
shifts  this  complex  business  on  to  the 
United  States  consul  by  cable  is  shown 
in  a  case  that  aroused  a  good  deal  of  criti- 
cism in  Rio  de  Janeiro  last  summer,  when 
a  whole  fleet  of  Norwegian  sailing  ships 
chartered  by  our  government  sort  of  got 
lost  in  Rio  harbor  and  lay  idle  at  $7000 
a  day  demurrage.    Nobody  at  Washing- 


ton seemed  to  have 
anything  for  them 
to  do,  and  expense 
to  the  government 
was  stopped  only 
by  urgent  pleas 
from  the  consulate 
that  this  fleet  be 
put  to  work. 

As  dining  car 
superinten- 
dent, the  shipping 
agent  must  buy 
provisions  and 
stores,  and  as  di- 
vision superinten- 
dent see  that  re- 
pairs are  made 
when  vessels  are 
damaged.  In  all 
the  ports  of  the 
world,  including 
our  own,  there  are 
crooked  ship  chan- 
dlers and  drydock 
concerns.  It  takes 
all  the  business 
ability  of  a  first-rate  agent  to  deal  with 
these  matters  to  advantage,  and  distant 
owners  suffer  loss  of  money  and  time 
where  badly  or  dishonestly  represented. 
There  have  been  several  instances  in  Rio 
de  Janeiro  the  last  year  where  American 
merchant  ships  have  been  tied  up  or  aban- 
doned through  legal  complications  arising 
from  claims  for  exorbitant  repair  bills. 

Instead  of  having  a  competent  Ameri- 
can agent  in  foreign  ports,  some  of  our 
ship  owners  leave  all  these  matters  to 
their  captains.  The  captain  may  lack 
business  ability,  be  of  foreign  nationality 
or  dishonest.  Whether  innocent  or  dis- 
honest, a  scheming  ship  chandler  or  dry- 
dock  man  knows  how  to  involve  him  in 
some  shady  transaction  to  rob  the  owner 
through  overcharges  for  provisions  and 
repairs.  In  the  absence  of  an  agent  any- 
thing the  captain  does  along  this  line 
makes  the  ship  legally  responsible. 

TROUBLE  WITH  CAPTAIN 

A  BOUT  a  year  ago  an  American  ship 
under  a  foreign-  captain  salvaged  an- 
other ship  into  Rio  de  Janeiro.  This 
captain  immediately  became  interested  in 
his  salvage  money  and  took  steps  to  keep 
his  own  ship  in  port  while  the  case  was 
being  settled.  Ordered  to  sea  by  his 
owner,  who  could  only  direct  matters  by 
cable  through  the  United  States  con- 
sulate, in  the  absence  of  an  agent,  the 
captain  first  asserted  that  the  ship  was 
out  of  order.  An  expert  had  to  be  sent 
from  the  United  States  to  make  a  sur- 
vey, and  pronounced  the  ship  seaworthy. 
This  was  a  small  auxiliary -motor  ship., 
and  the  captain  then  complained  that  he 
could  not  run  on  the  oil  obtainable  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro.  Experts  examined  the 
oil  and  pronounced  it  good.  Then  the 
captain  claimed  that  his  chief  engineer 
had  slandered  him  and  brought  criminal 


BRAZIL 


57 


suit  in  the  Brazilian  courts,  wnere  the 
case  dragged  on  until  dismissed.  Then 
the  consulate  directed  the  owner  to  dis- 
charge the  captain,  leading  to  further 
complications.  Finally  it  was  necessary 
to  put  a  United  States  naval  officer 
aboard  the  vessel  until  another  captain 
could  be  found.  This  ship  lay  in  Rio  de 
Janeiro  harbor  more  than  six  months,  yet 
representation  by  a  capable  agent,  to 
whom  the  captain  would  have  been  di- 
rected to  report  on  arrival,  was  the 
obvious  way  of  preventing  all  that  trou- 
ble and  loss. 

One  line  of  American  ships,  at  least, 
running  between  the  United  States  and 
Brazil  is  managed  efficiently,  with  its 
own  American  representative  in  Rio  de 
Janeiro.  This  is  the  United  States  and 
Brazil  Steamship  Line,  the  cargo  service 
of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation, 
started  in  1913.  It  is  not  only  handled 
by  broad-gauge  American  steel  men,  but 
James  A.  Farrell,  president  of  the  United 
States  Steel,  happens  to  be  the  son  of  an 
American  ship  owner  of  other  days,  and 
takes  the  keenest  personal  interest  in  the 
ocean  delivery  service  through  which 
United  States  Steel  markets  its  products 
abroad. 

The  Philadelphia  house  of  E.  J. 
Lavino  &  Co.,  importing  manganese  ore 
from  Brazil  and  making  ferro-manga- 
nese,  also  operates  its  own  and  chartered 
ships  through  its  branch  in  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro, with  efficient  American  super- 
vision. 

Our  flag  is  really  coming  back  on  the 
ocean.  In  every  Latin-American  port 
one  now  sees  the  Stars  and  Stripes  on 
the  fabricated  steel  cargo  carriers  and  the 
squatty  wooden  Ferris  steamers  built  for 
the  war  emergency. 

But  unless  the  American  energy  and 
business  ability  which  built  these  ships 
and  finds  them  cargo  at  home  are  applied 
to  their  operation  in  ports  abroad,  our 
flag  may  disappear 
again. 

If  Uncle  Sam 
intends  to  own  and 
operate  the  ships 
he  must  stop  dab- 
bling by  long  dis- 
tance through  his 
consuls,  establish 
United  States  ship- 
ping board  officers 
in  every  port,  un- 
der first-rate  rep- 
resentatives, and 
do  the  job  right. 

If  the  ships  are 
to  be  sold  to  pri- 
vate owners,  then 
the  latter  must 
wake  up  to  the 
fact  that  ships  call 
for  just  as  much 
business  manage- 
ment  abroad  as 
they    do   at   home, 


and  that  experience  and  business  ability 
in  the  handling  of  ships  of  other  nation- 
alities, through  their  own  representa- 
tives, in  ports  abroad  have  put  us  at 
far  greater  disadvantages  in  ocean  ship- 
ping than  any  disparity  in  sea  wages. 
Where  American  shipping  companies 
operate  on  a  large  scale,  like  the  United 
States  Steel  Company,  it  will  pay  hand- 
somely to  put  their  best  men  on  this  job. 
Where  smaller  concerns  operate  a  few 
ships  on  fluctuating  routes  the  same  high- 
class  business  representation  is  possible 
through  the  formation  of  a  corporation 
under  the  Webb  law  by  a  group  of  such 
shipping  concerns  and  the  opening  of 
offices  under  capable  business  men  to  han- 
dle ships  for  owners  wherever  they  may 
turn  up  in  world  ports. 


ARTICLE  XXIV 

CONFORMITY  TO  BRAZIL'S 
TARIFF  A  TRADE  NECESSITY 

jDIO  DE  JANEIRO,  Oct.  7.— A 
shipment  of  American  goods  sent  to 
a  Brazilian  merchant  was  carefully 
wrapped  in  paper  by  the  manufacturer. 
Having  heard  about  bad  American  pack- 
ing, he  took  pains  to  wrap  the  stuff  twice 
as  well  as  domestic  packages.  It  arrived 
in  excellent  condition,  but  because  it  was 
merchandise  of  high  value  per  pound  and 
the  weight  of  wrapping  paper  on  such 
merchandise  pays  duty  under  the  Bra- 
zilian tariff,  his  customer  lost  money  on 
the  shipment. 

Instead  of  repeating  such  stories,  let 
us  see  if  we  cannot  get  the  viewpoint  of 


S.    AUTO    USED   IN   THE    SALES    DEMONSTRATION 


the  Brazilian  business  man — follow  his 
transactions  as  he  does  business  from  day 
to  day,  carrying  upon  his  shoulders  a 
veritable  "Old  Man  of  the  Sea." 

The  Brazilian  business  man  is  hard- 
working, putting  in  long  hours  every  day. 
He  has  to!  He  is  also  competent.  He 
must  be,  for  he  does  business  in  one  lan- 
guage at  home  and  perhaps  several  oth- 
ers abroad — probably  learned  French 
thoroughly  at  school ;  is  able  to  get  along 
with  Spanish,  and  knows  English  as  well. 
In  his  seaport  he  must  turn  pounds, 
francs  and  dollars  into  milreis,  watch- 
ing the  rise  and  fall  of  exchange  from 
hour  to  hour.  And  up-country,  where 
little  real  money  circulates,  transactions 
often  take  the  form  of  barter. 

His  "Old  Man  of  the  Sea"  is  the  Bra- 
zilian customs  house.  Among  all  the 
red  tape  of  Latin-American  business  that 
of  the  Brazilian  tariff  system  seems  to 
be  admittedly  most  complex.  It  would 
be  easy  to  write  about  it  either  humor- 
ously or  in  terms  of  denunciation.  But 
we  are  simply  going  to  try  to  see  it 
through  Brazilian  eyes,  and  perhaps  add 
a  viewpoint  of  our  own. 

Brazil's  customs  duties  are  very  high. 
In  many  cases  they  have  been  purposely 
made  prohibitive  to  build  up  home  in- 
dustries. 

During  the  war  a  Brazilian  proposed 
to  manufacture  seamless  hosiery.  Before 
getting  his  machinery  he  secured  a  pro- 
hibitive tariff  on  such  goods.  In  a  little 
while  his  factory  failed,  so  no  seamless 
hosiery  is  made  in  Brazil  today.  But 
the  prohibitive  tariff  continues  and  makes 
imported  seamless  hosiery  very  expensive. 
Many  Brazilians  feel  that  their  home  in- 
dustries, such  as  cotton  weaving,  shoe- 
making  and  the  like,  not  only  make  mer- 
chandise very  expensive,  but,  with  labor 
shortage,  draw  country  people  into  the 
towns,  to  the  neglect  of  the  great  agri- 
cultural resources  of  the  country. 

The  Brazilian 
tariff  has  more 
than  1000  para- 
graphs, covering 
nearly  300  items. 
Daily  changes  are 
published  in  an  of- 
ficial gazette.  These 
changes  have  never 
been  collected,  but 
are  scattered 
through  back  issues 
of  the  gazette. 

Duties  are  large- 
ly computed  by 
weight,  not  the 
value  of  merchan- 
d  i  s  e.  Packages 
and  wrapping  often 
pay  duty,  too. 
Nickel  watches 
from  the  United 
States  pay  a  lower 
rate  than  from  Eu- 
rope,   because    we. 


58 


BRAZIL 


as  good  customers  for  Brazil's  cof- 
fee, have  made  a  diplomatic  horse  trade 
on  various  products.  Part  of  the  duty  is 
payable  in  gold  and  the  rest  in  paper 
money,  with  daily  fluctuations  in  ex- 
change. Then  the  customs  house,  be- 
sides collecting  several  different  duties 
of  its  own,  adds  internal  revenue  duties 
and  stamps. 

OFFICIALS  SUSPECTED  OF  FRAUDS 

TT  takes  six  to  eight  weeks  to  get  goods 
through  the  Brazilian  customs  house 
with  the  aid  of  a  shrewd  customs  broker, 
or  "despachante."  Every  transaction  is 
wrapped  around  and  around  with  official 


Shortly  after  investigation  began  there 
was  a  brisk  fire  in  that  customs  house  and 
all  the  evidence  was  destroyed.  Brazil- 
ians themselves  admit  that  if  all  revenue 
on  imports  were  honestly  turned  over  to 
the  government  their  country  would  soon 
be  out  of  debt.  But  officials  have  ways  of 
expediting  a  given  shipment  through  the 
customs  house  if  discreetly  encouraged 
with  tips,  and  also  ways  of  delaying 
business  and  imposing  fines  where  busi- 
ness men  do  not  follow  the  general  cus- 
tom of  the  country.  The  American 
business  man  in  Brazil  may  try  to  reform 
this  system  single-handed  at  first,  but 
presently  realizes  that  it  is  not  a  one-man 


sees  that  the  Brazilians  must  eventually 
go  to  school  and  profit  by  the  educational 
value  of  local  taxation.  The  Brazilians 
begin  to  see  this,  too,  but  have  hardly 
started  in  the  kindergarten. 

"Come  and  visit  our  beautiful  modern 
cities,"  urges  the  Brazilian,  ''and  learn 
that  we  are  not  Indians." 

But  once  the  visitor  steps  beyond  the 
cities  into  the  real  Brazil,  life  becomes 
decidedly  primitive,  with  few  educational 
advantages,  much  illiteracy,  great  dis- 
tricts undeveloped  for  lack  of  transporta- 
tion and  irrigation,  and  a  happy-go-lucky 
scheme  of  existence  generally. 

"God  has  been  almost  too  good  to  Bra- 


CLOSE    VIEW   OF    SUGAR    LOAF    MOUNTAIN.  WHICH    STANDS    GUARD    OVER    RIO    DE    JANEIRO    HARBOR 


papers.  No  step  is  taken  without  the 
review  and  signature  of  one  official  after 
another. 

These  officials  work  very  short  hours, 
and  one  may  bluntly  state  that  they  are 
not  very  competent,  nor  even  thoroughly 
honest,  because  the  Brazilians  themselves 
frankly  say  so,  and  are  anxious  to  effect 
reforms.  They  are  revising  their  tariff 
now  under  President  Pessoa's  new  ad- 
ministration. 

A  couple  of  years  ago  there  was  a  brisk 
little  scandal  in  the  customs  house  at  one 
of  the  North  Brazilian  ports,  with  sus- 
picion that  officials  had  connived  with 
importers     to     cheat     the     government. 


job.  Moreover,  he  sees  that  the  Brazil- 
ian system,  followed  by  everybody  as  a 
matter  of  course,  can  only  be  improved 
by  the  Brazilians  themselves. 

The  Brazilian  republic  is  only  thirty 
years  old.  Its  chief  revenues  come  from 
import  duties.  The  revenues  of  its 
twenty  separate  states  come  from  export 
duties,  like  that  of  Sao  Paulo  on  coffee 
and  Amazonas  and  Para  on  rubber.  The 
idea  of  local  taxation  on  land  and  reve- 
nue from  income  taxes  is  still  new.  The 
Yankee,  accustomed  to  such  taxes  at 
home,  with  their  concrete  community 
benefits,  such  as  schools,  highways, 
waterworks    and    other    improvements, 


zil,"  declared  the  thoughtful  Brazilian. 

With  his  little  plantation  of  bananas 
and  manioc  for  bread,  his  pigs  and  hens 
for  meat,  the  country  Brazilian  can  exist 
without  great  effort.  To  get  money  he 
can  gather  wild  products — rubber,  Bra- 
zil nuts,  yerba  mate,  carnauba  wax  or 
what  not.  If  he  plants  crops,  they  yield 
luxuriantly,  and  he  uses  the  product  in 
barter.  He  is  a  genial,  hospitable,  char- 
itable fellow.  If  relatives  or  friends  hap- 
pen to  be  down  on  their  luck  he  takes 
them  into  his  large  family  and  his  large 
heart.  The  family  is  still  his  unit  of  life, 
and  he  has  not  yet  acquired  the  sense  of 
community,  that  larger  family,  which  is 


BRAZIL 


59 


I 


the  unit  of  our  own  life  and  with  which 
so  many  Improvements  can  be  worked 
out. 

AMERICANS  CAN  AID 
NATIVE  MERCHANTS 

N  business  the  Yankee  can  help   the 

Brazilian  carry  his  "Old  Man  of  the 
Sea"  by  carefully  conforming  to  the  re- 
quirements of  his  official  system,  meeting 
his  suggestions  for  wrapping,  packing, 
weighing,  marking  and  shipping  goods. 
As  most  of  the  red  tape  exists  in  his  own 
country,  the  Brazilian  will  do  the  rest. 

The  Yankee  can  even  help  the  Brazil- 
ian get  rid  of  his  "Old  Man  of  the  Sea" 
to  some  extent. 

As  an  example,  take  the  duplicate  in- 
voice! 

An  American  salesman  was  offered  a 
fine  order  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  on  condi- 
tion that  his  house  at  home  send  one  in- 
voice, with  goods  billed  at  the  real  prices, 
and  another  at  half  the  real  price.  The 
first  invoice  would  be  paid  and  kept  se- 
cret, and  the  other  entered  at  the  cus- 
toms house  to  se- 
cure a  dishonest 
tariff  duty. 

"I'm  sorry,  but 
my  house  will  not 
do  that,"  said  the 
salesman. 

"Your  house 
doesn't  know  how 
to  do  business 
then,"  replied  the 
Brazilian,  ''for 
your  competitor 
right  in  your  own 
town  bills  this  to 
me  in  this  way. 
Here  is  my  last  in- 
voice to  prove  it." 

"Will  you  let 
me  have  it?"  asked 
the  salesman. 

"Certainly!"  agreed  the  Brazilian, 
thinking  that  the  invoice  was  to  be  used 
to  convert  the  salesman's  house.  And 
the  latter  sent  the  fraududent  document 
home,  but  for  another  purpose — so  that 
his  house  could  report  the  practice  of  its 
competitor  to  their  trade  association. 
That  was  done  and  the  competitor  made 
to  bill  export  goods  honestly. 

More  than  that,  the  salesman's  chief 
told  him  to  report  the  case  to  the  Brazil- 
ian Government.  But  here  it  was  wise 
to  stop,  as  the  salesman  pointed  out.  Had 
he  endeavored  to  extend  education  in 
straightforward  business  methods  that 
way  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  naturally  he 
would  never  have  sold  any  more  goods. 

That  Brazil  is  by  no  means  alone  in 
such  practices  is  shown  in  the  fact  that 
many  American  firms  descend  to  tne 
double  invoice  in  world  markets.  So  do 
the  British  and  the  French  and  the  Ital- 
ians— as  for  the  Germans,  they  are  cred- 
ited with  inventing  the  practice.  But 
other  American   firms   refuse  to   falsify 


shipping  documents,  and  very  often, 
after  the  Brazilian  customer  has  gone 
away  and  thought  it  over,  he  decides  that 
such  concerns  are  highly  trustworthy  in 
other  business  dealings,  and  returns  with 
an  order.  As  with  other  underhand 
methods,  the  abuse  itself  makes  for  re- 
form. Throughout  Latin  America  it 
has  grown  so  greatly  that  steps  are  now 
being  taken  through  our  own  trade  asso- 
ciations and  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment to  stop  it,  after  a  general  warning. 

If  American  business  as  a  whole  today 
happens  to  be  somewhat  more  straight- 
forward than  business  on  the  southern 
continent,  it  is  because  we  are  older  in 
experience. 

The  Brazilian  knows,  figuratively, 
that  80  per  cent  honesty  pays,  'and  is 
working  up  through  experience  to,  say, 
85  or  90  per  cent.  We  have  been  going 
to  school  long  enough  to  know  that  90 
per  cent  is  safe  business,  and  believe  we 
can  eventually  attain  par. 

If  we  can  help  the  Brazilian  stiffen  his 


are  simply  wrapped  as  we  see  them  at 
home  and  arrive  so  tattered  that  hun- 
dreds of  feet  of  the  outer  layers  must  be 
thrown  away. 

Bad  packing  is  the  first  thing  in  world 
trade  that  every  young  consul  encounters, 
says  United  States  Consul  Haeberle,  sta- 
tioned at  Rio  de  Janeiro.     During  his 
own  apprenticeship  he  wrote  eloquent  re- 
ports on  this  subject,   like  every  other 
young  consular  assistant,  and  sent  them 
home.     There  they   were  printed,   and 
business  concerns  shipping  goods  badly 
packed  were  also  notified  by  mail.     To 
his   astonishment,    young    Haeberle    dis- 
covered that  some  of  the  worst  offenders 
would   not  believe  that   there   was  any 
room  for  improvement  in  their  shipping 
methods,  and  declared  that  he  was  mis- 
taken.   Whereupon  he  adopted  a  quieter 
and  more  effective  method.    Visiting  the 
docks  with  his  camera,  he  photographed 
badly  packed  American  goods  with  their 
marks  for  identification,  and  these  were 
sent  with  his  report,  to  be  forwarded  to 
business  houses  at   fault.      That  led  to 
improvement  with- 
out     casting      dis- 
credit upon  Amer- 
ican    concerns 
whose       shipments 
were     received     in 
good  order. 

BIG  BUSINESS 
GOING  SOUTH 


O1 


NATIONAL   MILITARY   SCHOOL   CADKTS 

backbone  he  will  throw  off  his  "Old  Man 
of  the  Sea,"  and  so,  in  the  same  way, 
will  all  Latin  America. 


ARTICLE  XXV 

BAD  PACKING  MAY  COST 
U.  S.  BIG  TRADE  GAIN 

T>  IO  JANEIRO,  Oct.  9.— Somebody 
in  the  United  States  is  going  to  lose 
good  business  in  newsprint  paper  very 
shortly.  The  newspaper  publishers  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro  formerly  bought  their 
paper  in  Europe,  but  turned  to  the 
United  States  during  the  war.  At  least 
one  of  them,  the  publisher  of  the  Jornal 
do  Brazil,  which  uses  probably  as  much 
print  paper  as  any  newspaper  in  the 
country,  declares  that  he  prefers  Euro- 
pean paper  and  is  willing  to  pay  50  per 
cent  more  for  it.  This  is  not  a  matter  of 
quality,  but  simply  of  packing.  Euro- 
pean paper  comes  crated  and  in  fine  con- 
dition, whereas  rolls  of  American  paper 


LD- TIMERS 
in  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro, which  i  s 
taken  to  mean 
Americans  who 
have  been  there 
several  years,  say 
that  a  notably  good 
class  of  American 
business  men  have 
been  coming  to 
Brazil  since  the  armistice.  Our  business 
houses  formerly  sent  out  representatives. 
Now  the  principals  themselves  are  going 
abroad  to  have  a  look  into  world  mar- 
kets. A  good  example  of  the  new  Ameri- 
can business  traveler  was  the  vice  presi- 
dent of  a  big  New  England  hardware 
house  who  recently  visited  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro. His  concern  has  been  selling 
famous  trademark  products  all  over  the 
world  for  years,  but  in  many  places  indi- 
rectly. He  was  sent  out  to  shake  hands 
with  everybody,  the  first  time  an  official 
of  the  company  had  ever  visited  the 
Latin-American  trade.  A  month's  stay 
in  Brazil  was  a  revelation  to  him. 
"Through  our  lack  of  real  knowledge  we 
have  come  close  to  missing  one  of  the 
finest  opportunities  our  company  has  ever 
had,"  he  said,  and  steps  are  now  being 
taken  to  build  more  direct  connections, 
broaden  distribution  and  advertise  prod- 
ucts to  the  Latin-American  consumer  as 
they  are  advertised  at  home. 

The  American  salesman  visiting  the 


60 


BRAZIL 


southern  continent 
and  trying  to  do 
business  in  English 
still  figures  promi- 
nently in  world- 
trade  literature. 
Actually  he  is  not 
very  common. 
Everybody  in  Rio 
de  Janeiro  or  Bue- 
nos Aires  can  re- 
call one  such  chap, 
but  the  story  often 
dates  back  several 
years.  Portuguese 
should  be  a  good 
test  in  this  matter, 
because,  unlike 
Spanish,  it  is  not 
widely  taught  in 
the  United  States. 
The  faculty  of  a 
big  Middle  West- 
ern university  was  really  astonished  lately 
when  told  that  Portuguese  is  the  lan- 
guage of  Brazil,  and  immediately  ar- 
ranged for  Portuguese  classes.  In  any 
gathering  of  American  business  men  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro  nine  out  of  ten  will  be 
found  speaking  Portuguese  easily,  and 
the  tenth  man,  probably  a  new  arrival, 
is  studying  the  language.  To  practice  a 
profession  such  as  medicine  or  dentistry 
in  Brazil,  an  American  must  pass  a  stiff 
examination,  and  have  a  knowledge  far 
beyond  the  few  dozen  words  and  phrases 
that  enable  him  to  get  along  with  wait- 
ers and  chauffeurs.  The  American  pro- 
fessional colony  is  constantly  growing. 
Many  Americans  doing  business  in  Bra- 
zil are  of  Latin-American  birth  or  have 
had  years  of  experience  in  the  Spanish- 
speaking  countries  and  have  learned 
Portuguese  as  well.  On  the  whole  the 
North  American  in  South  America,  in- 
cluding the  Canadian  as  well  as  our- 
selves, is  at  home  with  the  people  in 
language  and   also  temperamentally. 

WE  ARE  FROM  U.  S. 
OF  NORTH  AMERICA 

HpHE  Brazilian  calls  the  Yankee  an 
"American,"  but  when  the  latter 
speaks  of  himself  prefers  that  he  say  "I 
am  a  North  American."  We  do  not 
have  to  go  very  far  from  home  to  dis- 
cover that  we  lack  a  handy  international 
term  for  ourselves,  like  "Canadian"  or 
"Brazilian."  If  we  call  ourselves 
"Americans"  the  people  in  twenty  Latin- 
American  republics  protest  that  they  are 
Americans,  too,  and  so  do  the  Cana- 
dians, and  suggest  that  we  are  trying  to 
monopolize  two  continents.  If  we  use 
"United  States"  the  Brazilian  asks 
"United  States  of  what  ?"  For  his  coun- 
try is  the  United  States  of  Brazil  and  so 
designated  on  his  money.  Even  the  fa- 
miliar "U.  S.  A."  has  its  duplicate  inter- 
nationally because  it  also  stands  for  the 
Union  of  South  Africa.    Really  the  only 


THE    HOME   OF   THE    U 


AMBASSADOR   AT    RIl 


way  to  thoroughly  identify  ourselves  is 
as  citizens  of  the  United  States  of  North 
America,  which  once  led  an  English 
statesman  to  suggest  that  we  be  known 
by  the  initials  as  "Usonians."  In  the 
end,  we  are  coming  to  be  known  as 
"Yankees,"  and  this  term,  which  is  pecu- 
liar to  New  Englanders  at  home,  means 
all  of  us  abroad,  and  is  an  indispensable 
synonym. 

If  you  saw  a  ship  with  "Victoria,  E. 
S."  on  its  stern  enter  one  of  our. harbors 
with  an  unfamiliar  green  flag  you  would 
wonder  where  she  was  from.  Victoria 
is  one  of  the  less  known  Brazilian  ports, 
and  "E.  S."  stands  for  the  state  of  Es- 
pirito  Santo.  Many  of  our  new  ships 
built  in  New  Jersey  have  been  sent  out 
lettered  "Newark,  N.  J."  It  was  sug- 
gested that  they  be  lettered  "Newark, 
U.  S.  A.,"  but  the  United  States  Steam- 
boat Inspection  Service,  with  a  certain 
official  obliqueness  of  world  vision,  ruled 
that  the  American  flag  on  our  ships  was 
sufficient  identification  of  nationality.  It 
has  now  been  found  advisable  to  substi- 
tute "Newark,  U.  S.  A.,"  and  that  city 
is  rapidly  becoming  known  over  the 
world  as  one  of  our  leading  seaports. 

Brazilians  dress  largely  in  black.  The 
women  appear  as  though  in  mourning, 
the  men  wear  somber  straw  hats,  and 
even  the  little  boys  wear  a  hard,  shiny, 
mournful  black  hat  which  is  made  out 
of  wood  and  painted  to  stand  rain.  So  it 
strikes  the  automobile  accessory  man  as 
odd  that  the  Brazilians  detest  our  black 
enameled  automobile  lamps,  saying  that 
they  are  "funeral  lamps."  They  dislike 
them  so  much  that  they  often  remove 
those  that  come  on  an  American  car,  sub- 


stituting others  of 
brass,  even  if  they 
have  to  have  them 
especially  made. 
Automobiles  are 
almost  invariably 
driven  by  chauf- 
feurs in  Brazilian 
cities,  and  brass- 
work  gives  the 
chauffeur  s  o  m  e- 
thing  to  do  in  odd 
moments.  On  ac- 
cessories such  as 
fenders,  even  nickel 
plating  is  not 
bright  enough — it 
must  be  brass  that 
responds  brilliantly 
to  an  application 
of  elbow  grease. 
An  American  auto- 
mobile accessory 
man  who  recently  visited  Brazil  says 
that  local  climatic  conditions  enter  into 
it  as  much  as  local  taste,  because  many 
fittings  on  our  cars  which  stand  up  well 
at  home  soon  rust  in  Brazil.  These 
factors  will  repay  technical  study  on  the 
spot,  with  adaptations  to  conditions,  as 
we  have  adapted  motorcars,  tires  and 
accessories  to  local  requirements  and 
climates  at  home.  Very  often  a  slight 
change  in  manufacturing  methods,  such 
as  giving  brass  parts  an  extra  copper 
plating  instead  of  nickel,  will  meet  the 
Brazilian  idea  and  make  him  happy. 

GUNPLAY  MOVIE  IS  POPULAR 

MOVING-PICTURE  titles  on  films 
shown  in  Brazil  are  not  only 
turned  into  Portuguese,  but  even  the 
names  of  the  characters  are  translated — 
"Charles  Harding,"  the  hero,  becomes 
"Carlos  Jardineira,"  and  so  forth.  A 
Brazilian  journalist,  who  is  very  fond 
of  our  movies,  insists  that  this  is  wrong, 
because  the  characters  are  American,  and 
the  Brazilian  names  tacked  on  to  them, 
presumably  by  well-meaning  title  writ- 
ers in  the  United  States,  do  not  fit,  and 
there  is  a  loss  of  American  character 
which  Brazilians  like  in  our  pictures. 
Keep  the  original  names  he  advises.  Also, 
he  criticizes  our  frequent  use  of  foreign 
settings  for  movie  stories,  maintaining 
that  Brazilians  are  most  keenly  interested 
in  American  stories  and  characters.  An- 
other odd  effect  of  American  movies  on 
the  Brazilians  is  that  when  he  sees  a 
film  full  of  western  gunplay  or  New 
York  crime  it  makes  him  a  better  Brazil- 
ian. Not  understanding  that  movie  sto- 
ries must  have  action  even  though  they 
distort  facts,  he  takes  the  gunplay  and 
vamping  as  present-day  life  in  New  York 
and  Wyoming  and  says,  "Thank  heaven, 
I  live  in  Brazil!" 

Americans  quickly  take  to  the  Brazil- 
ian maxixe,  and  the  real  thing  both  in 
the  dance  and  the  music  might  be  intro- 


BRAZIL 


61 


duced  in  the  United  States  to  create  a 
bond  of  every-day  interest  between  the 
two  countries.  The  maxixe  is  a  quicker 
dance  than  the  tango,  being  essentially  a 
two-step,  easier  to  learn  than  the  slower 
and  more  complex  tango,  while  also  sus- 
ceptible of  many  graceful  variations.  The 
Brazilian  maxixe  music  as  played  by  Bra- 
zilian orchestras  is  full  of  its  own  par- 
ticular "jazz,"  being  largely  rhythmic 
variations  of  simple  tunes,  lacking  the 
gentle  melancholy  of  the  tango.  A  pecu- 
liar Brazilian  rhythm  instrument  is 
always  played  for  the  maxixe — a  brass 
affair  containing  lead  shot,  which  is  rat- 
tled somewhat  like  the  jingling  of  a  tam- 
bourine. As  with  the  tango,  hundreds 
of  maxixe  records  by  native  orchestras 
are  made  in  Brazil,  but  demand  for  them 
in  the  United  States  has  still  to  be  cre- 
ated. 


ARTICLE  XXVI 

LAW  AND  FAMILY  LARGE 
FACTORS  IN  BUSINESS 

L>IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Oct.  12.— To 
do  business  in  Brazil  you  will  have 
to  learn  a  new  word — "fiscalization." 
The  "fiscal"  is  everywhere.  Originally 
a  sort  of  watchdog  of  the  royal  treas- 
ury in  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Brazilians 
have  made  him  an  auditor  and  account- 
ant and  checker-up  generally,  supervis- 
ing private  as  well  as  public  business. 
If  you  build  a  railroad  bridge  for  the 
government  everything  must  be  fiscal- 
ized, from  the  contract  to  the  width  of 
the  abutments.  And  if  you  are  a  con- 
ductor on  a  Rio  de  Janeiro  street  car, 
you  must  be  fiscalized  every  night  when 
you  finish  your  run. 

Brazilian  business  is  full  of  legal  for- 
malities. At  home  questions  of  law  may 
not  touch  your 
business  once  a 
month,  but  in  Bra- 
zil the  law  is  with 
you  every  day, 
sometimes  merely 
hampering  things 
by  our  standards, 
and  again  facili- 
tating business. 

You  are  ham- 
pered  in  such 
matters  as  the  re- 
quirements that 
the  name  of  your 
company  be  trans- 
lated into  Portu- 
guese. Sometimes 
it  means  about  the 
same  thing  trans- 
lated, but  in  other 
cases  you  lose  the 
cumulative  value 
of  a  well-known 
name.  Perhaps 
you  can  get  around 
that      by      bluntly 


disregarding  the  law,  as  some  foreign  con- 
cerns in  Brazil  have  learned  to  do.  Then 
the  government  will  fine  you  a  couple 
hundred  dollars,  and  by  one  of  the  sub- 
tle little  adjustments  of  Brazilian  for- 
malities the  fine  lasts  a  year!  There  are 
other  odd  requirements  about  business 
names,  such  as  changing  "Robinson 
Brothers"  to  something  like  "The  Rob- 
inson Company,"  if  there  happened  to  be 
only  two  brothers  Robinson  in  the  con- 
cern and  one  of  them  withdraws  or  dies. 

OFFICIALS  CHECK  BOOKS 

RUT  other  formalities  are  commend- 
able, such  as  keeping  copies  of  all 
business  correspondence  and  important 
documents  in  a  "fiscalized"  diary.  First 
you  go  to  an  official  with  an  old-fash- 
ioned tissue-paper  copybook,  such  as  we 
used  before  the  days  of  typewriters. 
Every  page  in  this  book  is  numbered  and 
the  official  signs  each  page,  though  there 
may  be  a  thousand,  and  also  certifies  that 
he  has  signed  them.  Then  you  make  a 
letter-press  copy  of  all  your  letters  and 
documents,  day  by  day  and  page  by  page, 
and  your  copybook  is  legal  evidence  in 
the  Brazilian  courts.  You  can  have  your 
business  signature  fiscalized,  too,  by  reg- 
istering it  with  an  official  for  twenty-five 
cents,  and  if  a  dispute  arises  over  the 
genuineness  of  your  signature,  this  regis- 
tered signature  is  the  legal  standing  for 
comparison — sometimes  a  very  handy 
thing,  if  you  are  away  from  home  or 
have  the  misfortune  to  die. 


LANDING   PIER    AT   RIO 


Brazilian  business  is  involved  in  many 
courtesies  as  well  as  formalities.  At  first 
these  may  seem  to  the!  Yankee  sheer 
waste  of  time.  But  once  accustomed  to 
them,  he  may  begin  to  suspect  that  our 
business  ways  often  waste  life  and  the 
humanities. 

Sales  cannot  be  made  with  one  visit 
to  your  Brazilian  customer,  for  a  sale 
involves  much  more  than  goods.  Your 
customer  wants  to  know  something  about 
you  as  a  friend,  and  be  friendly  with 
you,  and  inquire  about  your  family  and 
your  health.  Even  though  he  likes  your 
goods  and  prices  and  yourself,  perhaps 
he  prefers  to  buy  from  an  older  friend. 
There  is  a  certain  business  sense  in  this, 
too,  if  you  remember  that  goods  come 
from  distant  countries,  and  dealing  with 
concerns  that  treat  you  well  is  often 
preferable  to  picking  up  bargains  from 
unknown  salesmen.  It  is  perhaps  just 
such  a  point  in  your  Brazilian  customer's 
mind  that  makes  him  put  off  the  closing 
of  a  sale  that  to  you  seems  finished.  That 
is  what  people  mean  when  they  say,  "It 
takes  three  years  to  know  a  Brazilian  in 
trade." 

The  Brazilian  is  cordial,  courteous, 
affectionate  and  sensitive.  Men  embrace 
and  often  kiss  their  men  friends,  shake 
hands  a  half  dozen  times  during  a  three- 
minute  chat  on  the  street,  take  their  hats 
off  to  each  other  and  are  indignant  over 
abuses  of  children  or  animals.  They  have 
a  very  strong  sense  of  nationality,  ar- 
dently desire  that  you  think  and  speak 
well  of  Brazil,  and  like  to  say  nice  things 
about  your  own  country.  If  your  sale 
makes  it  necessary  to  demonstrate  that 
your  stuff  is  better  than  something  the 
Brazilian  possesses,  you  must  let  him  see 
the  superiority  himself,  because  too 
strong  emphasis  will  hurt  his  feelings. 
Brazilian  alertness  of  intellect  makes  it 
unnecessary  to  be 
too  obvious. 

HOME  AND 
TRADE  IN- 
SEPARABLE 

pAMILY  mat- 
ters continually 
creep  into  business, 
as  in  other  Latin- 
American  coun- 
tries, The  Amer- 
ican, British  and 
German  family  are 
loosely  held  to- 
gether, so  that 
members  scatter  all 
over  the  world,  but 
the  Latin  family 
holds  loyally  to- 
gether and  is  the 
unit  of  society  and 
the  state. 

A  n  American 
engineer  was  erect- 
ing some  machin- 
ery in   Rio  de  Ja- 


62 


BRAZIL 


neiro.  One  Brazilian  on  the  payroll, 
with  the  same  name  as  his  customer, 
never  came  to  work,  appearing  only  on 
pay  day  to  draw  his  money. 

"How  about  this  man  Souza?"  he 
asked.  "He  draws  a  hundred  milreis  a 
week,  but  never  does  anything." 

"Oh,  that's  all  right,"  was  the  cus- 
tomer's reply.  "You  see,  he's  a  cousin 
of  mine." 

The  American  undertook  to  chaff 
Cousin  Souza  the  following  pay  day. 

"If  it's  too  much  trouble  to  come  in 
for  your  money,  I  could  send  it  around 
to  you,"  he  suggested. 

But  Cousin  Souza  was  not  at 
all  abashed. 

"Oh,  no!  It  is  no  trouble  at  all,"  he 
said.     "I  like  to  come  around  for  it." 

High  cost  of  cousins  is  a  constant  fac- 
tor in  Latin-American  business,  and 
family  often  gets  interwoven  into  busi- 
ness thinking. 

A  Brazilian  was  placing  a  large  paint 
order  with  an  American  salesman.  He 
drew  up  a  contract  for  the  latter  to  sign. 
This  document  not  only  covered  quanti- 
ties, kinds  and  terms  minutely,  but  there 
was  a  special  clause  providing  an  income 
for  the  Brazilian's  wife  in  case  he  died 
before  the  paint  was  sold.  The  sales- 
man had  a  good  deal  of  difficulty  in  get- 
ting that  customer  to  see  that  paint  and 
life  insurance  were  two  separate  lines  of 
business. 

Business  appointments  are  not  at  all 
sacred  in  Latin  America.  The  Brazil- 
ian says,  "I'll  come  in  to  see  you  tomor- 
row at  11."  Probably  he  will  arrive 
about  12,  or  perhaps  not  come  at  all.  Re- 
minded of  the  matter  later,  he  says,  "Oh, 
yes;  but  I  forgot!  Can  you  make  it  11 
o'clock  tomorrow?"  After  you  get  used 
to  the  Latin-American's  indifference  to 
time  you  will  suggest  calling  him  up 
about  10.30  to  remind  him  of  his  ap- 
pointment-— which  he  thinks  a  splendid 
idea. 

In  big  business  centers  like  New  York 
or  London,  where  the  day's  work  is  con- 
centrated between  10  and  4,  and  affairs 
mount  up  into  large  aggregates,  and 
things  are  close  at  hand,  scrupulous  at- 
tention to  appointments  facilitates  busi- 
ness. But  down  under  the  Tropic  of 
Capricorn,  5000  miles  from  market,  with 
mail  steamers  a  week  apart — and  from 
the  United  States  just  now  a  month — a 
multitude  of  small  transactions  are 
spread  out  through  the  long  working  day, 
and  a  mere  matter  of  an  hour  seems  less 
important. 

YANKEE  OFFICE 
BUILDING  NEEDED 

DRAZIL  has  25,000,000  population, 
with  more  than  250  cities  with  more 
than  20,000  population.  It  is  the  largest 
Portuguese-speaking  country  in  the 
world,  for  Portugal  at  home  has  only 
6,000,000  population  and  her  colonies 
fewer  than  10,000,000.    Of  the  40,000,- 


000  Portuguese-speaking  people  in  the 
"world,  only  20  per  cent,  or  8,000,000, 
can  read  or  write.  To  get  a  general  or 
technical  education,  therefore,  the  Bra- 
zilian is  obliged  to  learn  another  lan- 
guage, usually  French,  because  it  does 
not  pay  to  publish  scientific  or  technical 
books  in  Portuguese.  The  difficulties  of 
language  are  probably  responsible  as 
much  as  anything  else  for  the  lack  of  a 
university  in  Brazil.  While  fervent  ad- 
mirers of  the  French,  and  following  their 
leadership  in  literature,  art,  architecture 
and  the  learned  professions,  the  Brazil- 
ians are  turning  more  and  more  to  the 
United  States  for  education  in  business 
and  technical  matters.  They  realize  that 
a  town  with  a  municipal  theatre  but 
poor  sanitation,  and  a  country  with  a 
magnificent  capital  city  but  few  schools, 
is  somewhat  out  of  balance.  While  re- 
taining the  culture  secured  from  Europe, 
they  now  want  to  apply  the  Yankee's 
energy  and  big-scale  business  methods  to 
the  development  of  their  country. 

As  much  of  the  business  in  Argentina 
is  done  by  Spaniards  and  Italians,  so 
the  Portuguese  dominate  in  Brazil. 
Landing  as  poor  immigrants  from  the 
home  country,  they  work  persistently, 
stick  together  and  control  pretty  much 
everything,  from  the  little  fruit  stand  and 
coffee  shop  up  to  the  big  retail  stores. 
The  Brazilian,  like  the  Argentino,  com- 
plains that  these  immigrants  do  little  for 
the  real  development  of  the  country. 
They  are  chiefly  traders,  not  leaders  or 
promoters  of  new  enterprises,  and,  after 
a  certain  number  of  years  of  hard  work 
and  frugality,  are  likely  to  return  to 
Portugal,  taking  their  savings  with  them. 

Rio  de  Janeiro  needs  an  American 
office  building.  Suspension  of  construc- 
tion during  the  war  made  office  space 
scarce,  and  now  that  every  steamer  from 
the  United  States  brings  men  who  are 
coming  to  live  in  Brazil,  representing 
American  business  concerns,  the  demand 
is  acute.  A  modern  skyscraper  would 
give  economy  of  space  on  some  promi- 
nent Avenida  site  and  bring  the  Ameri- 
cans together  out  of  a  hundred  old  build- 
ings and  side  streets.  • 

The  real  American  business  center 
now  is  the  new  hotel  on  the  Avenida,  the 
success  of  which  demonstrates  that  an 
American  skyscraper  hotel  is  also  needed. 


To  please  American  patrons  the  man- 
agement provides  dancing  music  every 
evening  after  dinner,  and  for  each  couple 
dancing  there  are  a  dozen  spectators. 
The  dancers  are  usually  Americans  and 
the  spectators  Brazilians.  The  idea  of 
informal  dancing  is  new,  but  they  like 
it,  and  the  idea  of  using  the  hotel  as  an 
informal  gathering  place  is  also  new, 
and  they  like  that  even  more.  As  life 
in  many  of  our  own  towns  has  been  en- 
tirely reshaped  around  its  new  Giltmore 
Hotel,  so  the  Brazilian  capital,  with  its 
first  real  gathering  place,  is  being  "city 
broke." 


ARTICLE  XXVII 

MODERN  RAILROADS 
NEEDED  TO  DEVELOP 
BRAZIL  RESOURCES 

|^IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Oct.  14.— The 
Railroader  to  the  Automobile  Man 
— When  they  told  me  at  home  that  Bra- 
zil had  20,000  miles  of  railroad,  nearly 
one-third  the  mileage  in  South  America, 
they  forgot  to  explain  that  it  was  chiefly 
a  trimming  of  toy  railroad  on  the  fringe 
of  the  country. 

The  Automobile  Man  to  the  Railroad 
Man — That's  nothing;  at  home  they 
told  me  Brazil  was  a  great  market  for 
cars  because  it  had  25,000,000  persons. 
But  they  didn't  say  anything  about  ab- 
sence of  roads  in  the  interior.  When  I 
get  home  myself  I'm  going  to  tell  some- 
body something  about  Brazil. 

Seventy-five  per  cent  of  all  the  rail- 
roads in  Brazil  are  in  five  central  coast 
states.  The  coast  of  central  Brazil  is 
fringed  with  mountains,  so  that  trunk 
lines  are  difficult  to  build  and  are  rare. 
Behind  the  mountains  everywhere  lie 
Brazil's  riches — gold,  diamonds,  man- 
ganese, cotton,  coffee,  cattle.  Here  and 
there  puny  man  has  been  able  to  climb 
the  mountain  wall,  bringing  virgin 
wealth  down  to  the  sea.  Now  one  har- 
bor taps  a  region  and  grows  rich  in  trade, 
and  then  another,  with  a  railroad  that 
has  no  reference  to  any  other  railroad  in 
Brazil — the  gauge,  cars,  locomotives, 
ownership  and  management  will  all  be 
individual. 

For  instance,  up  in  far  Para,  near  the 
border  of  French  Guiana,  gold  and  other 
products  have  been  leaking  out  through  a 
French  port  because  that  was  the  near- 
est road  to  market.  But  the  alert  Bra- 
zilians now  propose  to  have  a  300-mile 
railroad  from  the  border  of  Guiana  to 
the  Amazon,  to  reverse  the  traffic,  and 
this  line,  with  each  of  its  feet  in  a  river, 
will  be  almost  the  first  railroad  in  a  state 
three  times  the  size  of  California. 

R.  R.'S  KEY  TO  "TREASURE  BOX" 

TN  THE  state  of  Sao  Paulo  railroad 
progress  has  created  a  real  transpor- 
tation center  in  the  capital  city,  and  some 
of  the  lines  have  reached  a  point  where 


BRAZIL 


63 


electrification  is  possible.  Farther  south 
in  the  state  of  Rio  Grande  do  Sul  there 
are  trunk  lines  connecting  Brazil  with 
Uruguay  and  Argentina.  But,  after 
seventy  years  of  railroad  building  by  gov- 
ernment concessions,  chiefly  to  European 
promoters  who  have  built  narrow-gauge 
lines  of  limited  capacity,  with  little  co- 
ordination, Brazil — the  real  Brazil  of 
amazing  magnitudes — is  still  an  unlocked 
treasure  house.  Railroad  transportation 
is  the  key  to  unlock  it.  But  it  must  be 
real  railroad  transportation  on  continen- 
tal lines  like  our  own.  So  today  Brazil 
is  looking  to  the  United  States  for  the 
Yankee  railroader.  She  needs  the  capi- 
talist and  builder  for  new  roads,  and  the 
promoter  and  operator  to  merge  existing 
lines  into  real  transportation  systems. 


ernment  guaranteed  the  French  6  per 
cent  interest  on  their  investments,  re- 
gardless of  earnings,  and  at  the  same 
time  insisted  that  the  construction  cost 
not  more  than  $7500  per  kilometer — 
about  $12,000  per  mile.  This  did  not 
permit  building  broad-gauge  track  along 
river  beds,  cutting  away  obstructions  to 
give  easy  grades,  reasonable  operating  ex- 
penses and  volume  of  traffic  at  moderate 
freight  rates.  Instead,  the  builders 
stretched  narrow-gauge  tracks  over  the 
hills,  winding  around  those  too  big  to 
climb.  The  more  kilometers,  the  more 
return  on  investment  out  of  the  federal 
treasury,  regardless  of  traffic.  When 
finished,  this  line  reached  from  existing 
railroads,  connecting  Rio  de  Janeiro  with 
Montevideo    and    Buenos   Aires,    about 


Presently  there  was  trouble  with  the 
Brazilians  and  the  French.  When  plans 
for  wide  bridges  and  tunnels  were  laid 
before  the  Brazilian  "fiscal"  he  trimmed 
them  down  to  the  government  limit, 
obeying  the  law  of  the  original  conces- 
sion. And  because  French  investors  still 
held  the  bonds,  and  feared  loss,  they  op- 
posed the  Yankees  with  rather  malicious 
propaganda.  Matters  were  further  com- 
plicated by  simultaneous  operations  in 
Latin-American  railroads  elsewhere, 
land  development,  cattle  raising,  lumber- 
ing and  other  enterprises,  so  that  the 
Brazilians  wondered  if  the  Yankees  had 
at  last  come  down  to  annex  their  coun- 
try. Ultimately  this  big  enterprise  of 
the  Brazilian  Co.  went  into  receiver- 
ship, and  then  came  the  war  upheaval. 


AVBN1DA    BOTAFOGO.    THE    FASHIONABLE    BAY    SHORE    DRIVE    OF   RIO    DE    JANEIRO 


The  American  railroad  promoter  went 
into  Brazil  for  the  first  time  some  years 
ago  and  tackled  this  job  in  a  way  that 
promised  to  give  results.  But  when  the 
Yankee  idea  of  railroading  met  the  Bra- 
zilian and  European  ideas  there  was  a 
clash,  and  a  receivership,  and  the  Yankee 
promoter  retired,  with  some  undeserved 
discredit. 

The  story  is  interesting  because  it  illus- 
trates the  past,  present  and  future  of  Bra- 
zilian railroads: 

About  twenty  years  ago  French  capi- 
talists secured  a  Brazilian  federal  con- 
cession for  a  railroad  in  southern  Brazil. 
It  was  granted  on  conditions  typical  in 
Latin  America,  but  which  American 
promoters  declare  unsound  for  real  rail- 
road development.    The  Brazilian  Gov- 


equal  to  the  distance  from  New  York  to 
St.  Louis.  But  it  takes  ten  days  to  make 
the  trip! 

Then  came  the  Americans,  buying 
control  through  purchase  of  shares  to 
turn  it  into  a  real  railroad  system.  Re- 
construction was  begun  to  provide  a 
standard  gauge  line,  hauling  big  cars 
over  easy  grades  with  big  American  loco- 
motives, laying  down  freight  at  moderate 
rates  at  the  ocean.  This  could  not  be 
done  for  $12,000  a  mile.  But  the  Yan- 
kees said : 

"Damn  the  $12,000  limit.  Go  ahead 
and  build  the  Brazilians  a  real  railroad, 
with  bridges  and  tunnels  for  double 
tracking  later.  If  we  do  the  job  right 
it  will  develop  the  country,  and  we'll 
get  our  money  later." 


Had  it  succeeded,  however,  that  rail- 
road system  would  have  been  one  of  the 
best  in  Latin  America,  and  after  a  period 
when  American  promotion  methods  were 
distrusted  the  Brazilians  now  begin  to 
realize  this. 

BALDWIN  MAN  ON  THE  SPOT 

A/TOST  of  the  railroad  built  in  Brazil 
up  to  the  present  time  has  been 
constructed,  not  for  Brazil  or  the  Bra- 
zilians, but  for  the  profit  of  foreign  con- 
cessionaries. As  with  port  and  other 
developments,  the  European  promoters' 
ideal  has  been  to  secure  a  monopoly  and 
work  it  for  all  it  was  worth  today,  keep- 
ing up  freight  rates  and  port  charges  in- 
stead of  building  volume  of  traffic  for 
tomorrow.     Narrow-gauge  railway  is  a 


64 


BRAZIL 


tempting  fallacy.  With  minimum  capi- 
tal it  permits  the  construction  of  mile- 
age over  which  to  operate  tiny  cars  and 
locomotives,  winding  around  sharp 
curves  in  rough  country.  But  operating 
costs  are  high  and  capacity  small.  Dis- 
regarding the  Yankee  railroader's  axiom 
that  "You  build  a  railroad  only  once,  but 
you  have  to  operate  it  all  the  time,"  they 
have,  through  the  concession  system  and 
guaranteed  return  on  capital,  tied  down 
the  Leviathan  Brazil  like  Gulliver  with 
pack  threads  of  European  "meter  gauge" 
— and  now  it  looks  very  much  as  though 
the  Yankee  railroader  would  have  to  get 
Gulliver  out. 

At  least  one  Yankee  is  on  the  job. 

He  dropped  into  Rio  de  Janeiro  quietly 
the  other  day,  looked  around  for  an 
office  and  then  for  a  home.  He  is  Colo- 
nel Chauncey  H.  Crawford,  of  the  Bald- 
win Locomotive  Works,  Philadelphia, 
and  is  in  Brazil  with  his  family  to  stay. 
Colonel  Crawford  is  an  engineer  and  a 
railroader  of  long  experience.  When  he 
finished  war  service  with  the  general 
staff  in  Washington  his  boss  told  him  to 
go  to  Brazil,  not  to  sell  locomotives,  but 
to  live  and  grow  up  with  the  railroad 
development  of  the  country  during  the 
next  ten  or  fifteen  years.  Brazil  seemed 
far  away.  He  knew  little  about  it,  and 
had  to  begin  studying  Portuguese.  But 
there  are  certain  advantages  for  the  first- 
rate  American  business  man  who  goes  to 
a  country  like  Brazil  with  a  fresh  mind. 

One  of  the  first  things  that  impressed 
him,  Colonel  Crawford  says,  is  that  Bra- 
zil has  a  wonderful  system  of  rivers. 
These  have  been  regarded  as  natural  ad- 
vantages. But  American  railroad  ex- 
perience has  demonstrated  that  a  river 
system  cannot  compete  with  a  railroad 
system.  The  United  States  also  has  a 
wonderful  system  of  rivers,  and  in  the 
Mississippi  steamboating  days,  made 
famous  by  Mark  Twain,  before  the 
Civil  War  depended  upon  them  for 
transportation  and  development.  But 
railroads  later  not  only  carried  freight 
more  cheaply  than  rivers  when  run  par- 
allel, like  the  Illinois  Central  and  the 
Mississippi,  but  made  growth  possible  in 
more  favorable  directions,  along  east  and 
west  lines  to  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  in- 
stead of  south  to  the  gulf. 

The  Brazilians  are  also  on  the  job 
themselves.  Two  of  President  Pessoa's 
first  appointments,  on  taking  office  last 
summer,  and  it  is  believed  two  of  the 
best,  were  Brazilian  engineers  who  have 
studied  railroading  in  the  United  States 
— Dr.  Pieres  do  Rio,  the  new  minister  of 
public  works,  who  has  appointed  a  com- 
mission to  study  standardization  of  rail- 
road gauge  and  equipment,  and  Dr.  Assis 
Ribeiro,  the  new  director  of  the  govern- 
ment's Central  Railway,  an  advocate  of 
our  master  car  builders'  system  of  stand- 
ardized equipment,  who  has  recently 
investigated  the  use  of  pulverized  coal  in 
the  United  States,  and  is  experimenting 


with  pulverized  Brazilian  coal  as  a 
promising  solution  of  the  fuel  problem. 
Brazil's  railroads,  like  those  of  Argen- 
tina, are  operated  with  coal  from  the 
United  States  and  England.  This  makes 
railroad  transportation  expensive.  Cheap 
fuel  is  necessary  for  cheap  transportation, 
and  American  investigators  maintain  that 
cheap  fuel  is  not  likely  to  be  obtained 
from  another  continent.  Brazil  has  low- 
grade  coal  which  may  prove  suitable  for 
railroad  use  when  pulverized.  She  has 
great  areas  of  petroleum  in  the  Andes, 
which  only  require  railroad  transporta- 
tion to  make  them  available.  In  great 
unprospected  regions  nearer  at  hand,  just 
beyond  the  fringe  of  coast  states,  there  is 
probably  better  coal  and  handier  oil.  On 
top  of  that  Brazil  is  rich  in  water  power, 
so  that  electricity  is  a  possible  future 
transportation  resource. 

The  bigness  of  the  lailroading  job  in 
Brazil  is  made  cleaver  by  still  other 
difficulties — such  as  the  possession  of 
perhaps  the  greatest  deposit  of  iron  ore 
in  the  world,  but  without  coal  for  turn- 
ing it  into  steel,  so  that  practically  all 
railway  equipment  except  ties  and  wood 
work  has  to  be  brought  in  from  other 
countries  at  high  cost.  But  the  very  big- 
ness of  the  job  makes  it  attractive,  and 
the  American  railroader,  after  developing 
a  continental  country  of  his  own,  can 
help  Brazil  out  of  its  toy  railroad  era  into 
the  continental  railroad  game. 


ARTICLE  XXVIII 

BOND  INVESTMENTS 
WILL  AID  TRADE 
WITH  LATIN  AMERICA 

jDIO  DE  JANEIRO,  Oct.  19.— 
Through  an  odd  confusion  of  for- 
eign words  trolley  cars  are  called 
"bonds"  in  Brazil.  Various  versions  of 
the  story  are  given,  but  in  substance 
there  was  an  issue  of  bonds  in  Rio  de 
Janeiro  to  turn  mule  cars  into  trolleys, 
and  people  hearing  the  word  "trolley" 
and  "bonds"  applied  the  latter  to  the  new 
street  cars.  It  is  now  a  real  Brazilian 
word  made  Portuguese  by  spelling  it 
"bonds."  The  Brazilian  term  for  a  bond 
is  "debenture." 

Thanks  to  our  war  loans,  we  know 
a  little  more  about  bonds — but  not  much 
more  about  Latin-American  bonds  or 
world  investments  generally. 

At  the  present  writing  the  United 
States  has  taken  only  two  bond  issues 
of  South  American  municipalities,  both 
in  Brazil,  the  cities  of  Rio  de  Janeiro 
and  Sao  Paulo. 


Some  time  ago  the  authorities  in  a 
north  Brazilian  city  conferred  with 
American  investment  men  about  a  bond 
issue.  This  is  one  of  the  largest  ports 
in  the  country,  with  200,000  population, 
well  governed  and  with  good  security 
for  a  loan.  Our  financiers  admitted  that 
the  security  was  good,  yet  did  not  take 
the  issue. 

"The  difficulty  is  not  in  your  city," 
they  said,  "but  in  the  United  States.  Our 
investing  public  knows  nothing  about 
Pernambuco,  and  the  sale  of  your  bonds 
involves  an  educational  campaign  which 
we  are  not  able  to  undertake." 

When  some  bonds  of  the  city  of  Rio 
de  Janeiro  were  sent  to  the  middle  west- 
ern branch  of  a  big  New  York  invest- 
ment house  last  summer  to  be  sold  to  in- 
vestors a  wail  of  protest  came  from  the 
sales  force. 

"Our  customers  won't  take  these  se- 
curities," the  salesmen  insisted.  "They 
don't  know  where  Rio  de  Janeiro  is,  or 
even  Brazil,  and  prefer  securities  of  our 
own  cities." 

The  sales  manager  took  a  train,  went 
to  that  branch,  called  the  salesmen  to- 
gether and  held  a  class  in  geography.  He 
showed  them  that  Brazil  was  bigger  than 
the  United  States,  had  just  about  as 
many  people  to  the  square  mile  as  we 
had  before  our  West  was  settled,  and 
that  a  similar  development  of  her  inte- 
rior was  about  to  begin.  He  told  them 
that  the  British  and  Canadians  had  in- 
vested $1,000,000,000  there,  where  we 
had  invested  only  $20,000,000,  that  her 
foreign  commerce  amounted  to  $27.50 
per  capita  against  only  $10.34  for  our- 
selves when  we  also  lived  along  the  At- 
lantic fringe,  and  that  American  money 
was  needed  to  back  the  50  per  cent  of 
imports  that  Brazil  is  now  buying  from 
us.  Then  passing  to  Rio  de  Janeiro  it- 
self, he  showed  that  it  would  be  out- 
ranked in  the  United  States  in  size  only 
by  New  York,  Chicago  and  Philadel- 
phia, that  on  a  basis  of  per  capita  debt 
its  bonds  were  twice  as  good  as  those  of 
Boston  or  London  and  four  times  as  good 
as  those  of  New  York  or  Paris,  that  she 
had  1000  factories,  $150,000,000  export 
and  import  trade,  $1,000,000,000  bank 
deposits,  a  stable  government  and  in 
three  centuries  had  never  failed  to  pay 
her  debts.  Primed  with  some  plain  busi- 
ness knowledge  about  this  new  line,  the 
sales  force  went  out  and  quickly  placed 
their  quota  of  that  issue. 

A  similar  campaign  of  education  lies 
ahead  of  our  investment  bankers.  Their 
representatives  are  now  found  every- 
where in  Latin  America,  investigating 
the  different  countries,  states,  provinces 
and  municipalities,  and  when  they  are 
able  to  go  to  investors  in  the  United 
States  and  talk  about  the  bonds  of  the 
state  of  Rio  Grande  do  Sul  or  the  city 
of  Montevideo  as  they  talk  about  the 
road  bonds  of  Massachusetts  or  the 
school  bonds  of  Grand  Rapids,   Michi- 


BRAZIL 


gan,  Latin-American  issues  should  be- 
come as  familiar  in  the  United  States 
as  they  are  to  British  and  French  inves- 
tors. 

Not  all  the  countries  and  cities  on  the 
southern  continent  are  attractive  from 
the  investment  standpoint.  Where  one 
is  found  upon  investigation  to  have  good 
government,  sound  credit  and  a  reputa- 
tion for  faithfully  meeting  obligations, 
another  close  by  may  have  extravagant 
government  and  unpaid  debts.  But  on 
the  whole  the  general  average  is  excel- 
lent. If  the  French  investor,  for  in- 
stance, held  well-chosen,  widely  distrib- 
uted Latin-American  bonds  today  instead 
of  his  enormous  accumulations  of  Rus- 
sian, Turkish  and  other  securities,  now 
almost  worthless,  the  reconstruction 
problems  of  France  would  be  greatly 
simplified. 

U.  S.  PUBLIC  OPINION  NEEDED 

T  ATIN-AMERICAN  bonds  fall  into 
several  groups.  The  most  impor- 
tant and  best  known  are  those  of  the 
national  governments  themselves.  Be- 
fore the  war  practically  all  such  issues 
were  marketed  in  Europe.  When  capi- 
tal was  cut  off  there  they  turned  to  us. 
Our  Liberty  loans  made  it  impossible  to 
lend  while  we  were  at  war,  but  now 
American  bankers  are  investigating,  and 
during  the  next  few  years  should  float 
large  issues  for  the  republics  enjoying 
good  credit.  Another  big  group  is  that 
of  securities  to  finance  railways,  ports, 
public  utilities  and  improvements  which 
will  develop  the  resources  of  fertile  coun- 
tries. Still  another  group  includes  bonds 
for  city  improvements  and  the  building 
of  schools,  roads,  water  works  and  drain- 
age systems  in  smaller  communities. 

To  overcome  lack  of  information  by 
investors  some  of  our  bankers  propose 
that  sound  Latin-American  securities  be 
purchased  and  funded,  so  that  the  Ameri- 
can investor  will  really  be  purchasing  an 
American  security,  and  be  protected 
against  possible  loss. 

But  Latin  America  needs  more  than 
our  dollars.  It  needs  intelligent  public 
opinion  in  the  United  States.  Just  as 
we  put  more  than  dollars  into  the  Lib- 
erty loans,  the  money  being  almost  a  by- 
product of  a  great  educational  movement, 
so  Latin-American  investment  will  be 
best  for  both  borrower  and  lender  if  it 
is  backed  by  understanding. 

We  put  our  money  into  the  Liberty 
loan  because  we  had  a  clear  picture  of 
what  we  wanted  to  do  with  it. 

We  will  put  our  money  into  Latin 
America,  too,  when  we  get  a  clear  pic- 
ture of  the  Latin  Americans  and  of 
what  they  want  to  do  with  the  money. 

Nationally,  we  might  stop  cartooning 
Latin-American  countries  as  ragged  lit- 
tle Indians  and  learn  some  elementary 
facts  about  them. 

There  are  ten  republics  in  South 
America  proper  and  ten  more  in  Central 


America  and  the  West  Indies.  All  but 
three  in  South  America  are  big  coun- 
tries, Ecuador,  Paraguay  and  Uruguay 
being  the  smaller  ones,  and  all  except 
Venezuela  and  perhaps  Paraguay  having 
fairly  stable  government.  Apart  from 
Mexico,  most  of  the  Central  American 
republics,  while  small,  are  fairly  stable 
politically,  and  should  be  absolutely  so 
when  their  resources  are  developed,  like 
those  of  Cuba,  which  has  submerged  poli- 
tics in  work  and  prosperity.  It  has  been 
pointed  out  that  the  only  two  Latin- 
American  republics  which  are  really 
backward,  Santo  Domingo  and  Haiti, 
are  not  Latin  at  all,  but  African  in  their 
civilization. 

Most  of  these  countries  are  now  in 
financial  difficulties,  nationally,  but  mak- 
ing determined  efforts  to  solve  their 
money  problems,  and  pretty  certain  to  do 
so  and  grow  richer  and  more  stable  in 
the  process.  In  the  past  they  have  bor- 
rowed unwisely,  on  pawnshop  terms, 
given  concessions  and  monopolies  to  get 
capital,  spent  money  extravagantly  and 
never  had  enough  to  develop  their  re- 
sources. Getting  out  of  money  difficul- 
ties involves  better  borrowing,  better 
spending,  better  development  and  better 
politics. 

CEARA  ENTERPRISE  UNLIMITED 

[  OCALLY,  Latin-American  bond  is- 
sues will  be  of  a  character  so  like 
our  own  that  we  should  have  little  diffi- 
culty in  getting  the  picture.  As  our 
town  and  county  bonds  and  borrowing 
for  schools  and  roads  goes  hand  in  hand 
with  better  communities  and  better  com- 
munity spirit,  so  Latin  America  is  enter- 
ing upon  an  era  of  community  education 
through  local  taxation. 

As  a  sample  picture  take  the  Brazilian 
state  of  Ceara.  This  is  one  of  the  small- 
est states,  but  one  of  the  most  fertile, 
populous  and  enterprising.  It  suffers 
periodically  from  terrible  droughts  which 
have  been  a  scourge  for  Ceara,  yet  in 
many  ways  a  blessing  for  Brazil.  When 
it  rains  crops  are  abundant  and  prosper- 
ity is  everywhere  in  that  state ;  but  when 
the  droughts  come  the  Cearenses,  actually 
starving,  scatter  over  half  the  republic. 
They  have  developed  the  rubber  indus- 
try up  the  Amazon  and  are  workers  and 
promoters  wherever  they  go.  The  Cea- 
renses are  the  Scotchmen  of  Brazil,  and 
the  Brazilians  say  that  when  Admiral 
Peary  reached  the  North  Pole  he  found 
a  hut  and  a  Cearense  inside  and  said  he 
had  come  up  there  to  "see  what  was 
doing."  The  Cearenses  will  be  borrow- 
ing money  some  of  these  days  to  develop 
irrigation  facilities  in  their  state. 


65 


Take  anotner  picture  from  Bolivia, 
which  is  a  country  of  remarkable  re- 
sources, but  handicapped  in  development 
by  being  cut  off  from  the  ocean  and  by 
its  mountainous  character,  lack  of  im- 
migration and  other  disadvantages.  For 
years  Bolivia's  chief  cities  have  been  sub- 
ject to  epidemics  because  they  lacked 
sewer  systems.  After  various  failures, 
each  of  which  taught  its  lesson,  the  Bo- 
livian government  has  now  signed  a  con- 
tract with  an  American  corporation  to 
build  sewer  systems  in  two  cities  and 
prepare  plans  and  a  financial  scheme  for 
three  others.  This  work  will  be  paid 
for  by  Bolivian  federal  bonds.  The 
facts  in  the  case  should  make  such  se- 
curities no  more  difficult  to  market  in 
the  United  States  than  bonds  issued  for 
similar  purposes  by  one  of  our  own  com- 
munities, and  when  the  Bolivians  realize 
better  health  probably  they  will  be  will- 
ing to  submit  to  higher  property  taxes  to 
carry  out  further  community  improve- 
ments and  be  good  customers  for  more 
of  the  American  investor's  money. 

To  do  more  business  in  Latin  America 
we  must  lend  more.  To  lend  more  we 
must  learn  more  about  the  different 
countries,  and  especially  their  local  prob- 
lems and  projects.  Local  development 
in  the  United  States  has  been  largely  car- 
ried out  through  teamwork  between 
communities  and  bond  bankers.  We  have 
the  money  and  the  investment  machinery 
— but  we  must  "bone  up"  on  the  geogra- 
phy. 


ARTICLE  XXIX 

BRAZIL  ONE  END  OF 
BLIND  ALLEY  FOR 
U.  S.  SHIP  LINES 

D  IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Oct.  19.— An 
American  steel  mill  sold  a  fine  order 
of  rails  to  a  Brazilian  customer.  When 
it  came  to  shipment  a  difference  of  eighty 
cents  a  ton  was  discovered  in  the  railroad 
rate  to  two  different  ports.  The  rails 
were  sent  by  the  cheapest  route.  When 
they  were  loaded  into  a  foreign  ship, 
however,  the  steel  mill  men  were  told 
that  they  really  saved  nothing  at  all — 
ocean  freight  was  figured  in  such  a  way 
that  the  steamship  company  "absorbed" 
the  saving  offered  by  one  of  our  own 
railroads. 

This  happened  several  years  before  the 
war,  when  we  hadn't  a  single  merchant 
ship  of  our  own  traveling  to  Brazil.  It 
gives  an  insight  into  the  "conference  sys- 
tem," whereby  foreign  steamship  lines 
control  ocean  rates.  Through  agree- 
ments between  different  shipping  lines 
and  sometimes  different  nationalities,  it 
has  been  possible  to  prevent  fluctuations 
downward,  take  advantage  of  every  up- 
ward rise  and  use  deferred  rebates  to 
shippers  as  a  reward  for  their  patronage 
on  one  hand,  or  a  punishment  for  send- 
ing freight  by  ships  not  in  the  combine. 


66 


BRAZIL 


VOTING   PLACE   FOR   CITY    ELECTION    IN   RIO    DE   JANEIRO 


In  the  case  of  these  steel  rails,  more- 
over, the  foreign  ship  was  able  to  aid 
steel  rail  mills  in  its  own  country  by 
artificially  increasing  the  cost  of  Ameri- 
can rails  laid  down  in  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

Since  that  lot  of  rails  was  shipped  to 
Brazil  we  have  freight  steamers  of  our 
own  running  to  the  east  coast  of  South 
Amerl'-a,  and  plans  for  more.  Every 
American  familiar  with  East  Coast  pos- 
sibilities prays  that  there  may  be  perma- 
nent service,  both  freight  and  passenger, 
by  first-class  American  ships  on  those 
routes.  But  the  ships  must  be  backed  up 
by  understanding  at  home  of  the  diffi- 
culties involved,  and  teamwork  in  over- 
coming them. 

RETURN  CARGOES  NEEDED 

HpHE  freight  route  from  the  United 
States  to  Brazil,  and  also  Argentina 
to  some  extent,  is  a  blind  alley  for  us. 
For  twenty  years  shipping  interests  of 
other  nations  were  able  to  keep  us  off 
those  routes  partly  through  the  confer- 
ence system,  but  even  more  through  the 
one-sided  character  of  our  East  Coast 
trade.  It  was  only  by  opening  up  the 
other  end  of  the  alley  that  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation  succeeded  in  es- 
tablishing a  new  line  of  American  steam- 
ers between  the  United  States  and  Bra- 
zil in  1913. 

Our  sea  lane  to  Brazil  is  a  blind  alley 
because  normally  we  ship  twice  as  much 
tonnage  as  Brazil  sends  back.  Our  stuff 
runs  to  bulk,  and  the  bulk  promises  to 
increase  as  we  supply  more  coal,  steel, 
cement,  machinery,  railway  equipment 
and  general  merchandise  to  the  Brazil- 
ians. Against  this  heavy  stuff  Brazil 
has  only  two  or  three  things  to  ship 
back,  with  prospects  that  there  will  be  a 
decrease  in  at  least  one  of  them  the  next 
five  years.  Brazil's  chief  tonnage  to 
us   is  coffee,    and    recent   frost   in    Sao 


Paulo  will  reduce  the  yield  for  several 
years,  and  consequently  the  tonnage.  Cof- 
fee, cocoa,  rubber,  Brazil  nuts,  hides  and 
skins  make  up  the  other  important  ton- 
nage. In  1917,  roughly,  we  sent  Bra- 
zil 1,000,000  tons  of  freight,  and  got 
back  just  about  500,000  tons  of  vege- 
table products.  Therefore,  every  other 
ship  that  goes  down  loaded  must  come 
back  empty  unless  we  can  find  other 
cargo  for  it  to  carry — which  is  a  heavy 
tax  on  our  exports  to  Brazil. 

The  United  States  Steel  Corporation 
established  its  line  of  Brazilian  ships  by 
finding  something  to  bring  back.  Man- 
ganese is  used  in  steel  making.  The 
steel  men  turned  their  attention  to  Bra- 
zilian manganese  ore,  leased  mines,  put 
them  under  the  supervision  of  experi- 
enced engineers,  got  the  best  ore  down 
to  the  seaboard  and  sent  it  back  to  the 
United  States  on  ships  which  had  deliv- 
ered steel  products  and  also  carried  gen- 
eral cargo  for  American  manufacturers 
and  exporters.  In  1917  the  manganese 
shipments  from  Brazil  to  us  exceeded  her 
tonnage  of  vegetable  and  animal  prod- 
ucts, just  about  balancing  the  trade. 

SHIPPING  TRAFFIC  LOPSIDED 

DUT  today  the  traffic  is  once  more  be- 
coming lopsided.  For  manganese 
can  be  brought  from  other  countries  more 
cheaply,  and  unless  greater  efficiency  can 
be  secured  in  mining,  hauling  and  sell- 
ing the  Brazilian  ore,  there  will  be  no 
market  for  it. 

Even  should  Brazilian  manganese  dis- 
appear as  a  return  cargo  to  the  United 
States  it  will  have  taught  a  practical  les- 
son to  the  Brazilians  and  ourselves — 
that  there  is  usually  some  way  for  the 
constructive  business  mind  to  get  out  of 
a  blind  alley. 

In  the  vast  range  of  Brazil's  undevel- 
oped resources  there  are  unsuspected  raw 


materials  which  tomorrow,  through  ex- 
ploration, scientific  research  and  indus- 
trial application,  may  create  new  ton- 
nage for  our  ships  and  new  products  for 
our  factories.  Opening  up  this  blind 
alley  is  a  job  for  the  prospector,  the 
chemist  and  the  purchasing  agent. 

European  nations  selling  manufactured 
goods  to  Brazil  are  not  handicapped  in 
the  same  way.  Dropping  cargo  at  Rio 
de  Janeiro,  and  lacking  coffee  for  the 
return  voyage  home  or  on  the  triangu- 
lar route  to  the  United  States,  where 
they  load  cotton  for  Europe  after  dis- 
charging coffee,  they  can  steam  down  to 
Argentina  and  pick  up  a  cargo  of  wheat 
or  corn  for  Europe,  which  continually 
buys  these  foodstuffs  where  we  have  a 
surplus  to  sell  abroad.  We  have  im- 
ported occasional  cargoes  of  Argentina's 
corn  on  the  return  voyage  for  use  in 
making  corn  sugar  to  be  exported  for 
brewing,  but  the  trade  does  not  run  to 
tonnage.  Quebracho  wood  offers  some 
cargo  from  Argentina,  and  so  do  beef, 
pork,  meat  products  and  hides.  But 
there  is  not  enough  to  balance  our  trade 
to  the  southern  continent. 

There  has  been  considerable  apprehen- 
sion over  the  "Japanese  invasion"  of 
Latin-American  markets.  The  Japs  are 
there  with  their  familiar  line  of  imita- 
tion Occidental  merchandise  and  their 
own  cheap  trinkets,  carried  on  their  own 
ships.  But  their  ships  come  into  east 
ports  weeks  apart,  and  sometimes  months, 
and  it  is  said  that  lack  of  return  cargoes, 
together  with  the  small  bulk  of  Japa- 
nese goods,  makes  the  building  of  trade 
very  difficult.  Actually,  South  America 
is  a  way  station  for  Japanese  ships  bound 
to  Europe,  and  some  of  the  best  business 
in  true  Japanese  products,  such  as  fine 
silk  fabrics,  is  done  by  British  houses  sell- 
ing in  South  America. 

With  an  empty  ship  on  his  hands  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro  or  Buenos  Aires,  the  re- 
sourceful shipping  agent  looks  over  the 
world  for  cargo.  To  the  east  there  is 
only  Africa,  which  offers  little  to  us  as 
yet  because  we  lack  trade  connections 
there.  To  the  north  are  the  West  In- 
dies and  Central  American  republics, 
which  offer  only  occasional  cargoes.  To 
the  northeast  is  Europe,  with  so  little 
bulk  cargo  coming  to  the  United  States 
that  it  cannot  keep  its  own  ships  busy 
except  on  triangular  routes — coal  and 
merchandise  to  Latin  America,  coffee 
to  the  United  States,  and  cotton  and 
other  raw  materials  to  Europe,  to  make 
more  merchandise  for  Latin  America. 

"The  plain  truth  is  that  when  you 
have  a  line  of  American  ships  fit  to  han- 
dle east  coast  South  American  trade," 
said  a  veteran  shipping  man  in  Rio  dc 
Janeiro,  "you  can  get  more  trade  and 
make  more  money  by  putting  them  to 
work  on  some  other  ocean  route." 

Does  this  mean  that  we  cannot  do  busi- 
ness with  Latin  America  in  our  own 
ships? 


Not  at  all;  it  simply  shows  our  neg- 
lect in  the  past,  and  invites  us  to  take  off 
our  coats  and  get  busy. 

TREASURE  HIDDEN  IN  BRAZIL 

DRAZIL  is  full  of  minerals.     It  may 
*^    not  pay  us  to  carry  home  her  iron 
ore  while  we  have  great  supplies  in  the 
United  States  and  Cuba.    But  technical 
improvements  in  industry  whereby  man- 
ganese becomes  a  cleanser  for  steel,  and 
menazite  sand  yields  thorium  for  incan- 
descent  gas  mantles,    demonstrate    that 
unsuspected  cargoes  may  be  found  in  Bra- 
zil's  wilds    tomorrow   by   the   chemist. 
Brazil  is  rich  in  hardwoods,  and  the  de- 
velopment of  hardwood  cargoes  seems  to 
be  a  problem  for  our  manufacturers,  who 
could   doubtless   make   many   a   factory 
product  better,  cheaper,  more  beautiful, 
more  durable,  more  suitable  technically, 
if  they  knew  what  these  woods  are  and 
their  characteristics.    The  Brazilian  jun- 
gle is  full  of  nuts,  some  good  to  eat,  like 
the  "niggertoes,"  some  good  for  buttons, 
like  vegetable  ivory,  and  others  full  of 
oil.     The  latter  invite  attention  as  raw 
material  for  our  vegetable  oil  industry, 
and    unquestionably    have    undeveloped 
technical    qualities.      Brazil's    soil    will 
grow    anything   under   the    sun    except, 
perhaps,  Iceland  moss,  and  the  way  her 
farmers  ran  up  tonnage  of  beef  and  beans 
during  the  war  revealed  a  world  of  cargo 
possibilities. 

During  rhe  war  the  European  confer 
ence  system  of  controlling  ocean  freight 
traffic  broke  down  completely,  but  steps 
are  being  taken  to  establish  it  again. 
American  shipping  men  maintain  that 
this  system,  far  from  harming  our  world 
trade  in  the  past,  has  been  beneficial, 
and  that,  far  from  fighting  the  confer- 
ences, we  should  join  them  for  team- 
work. Brazil  decided  to  fight  them  in 
1906  through  her  subsidized  Lloyd 
Brasileiro  steamships,  and  succeeded  in 
carrying  50  per  cent  of  the  merchan- 
dise tonnage  from  the  United  States  to 
her  own  ports  before  the  war,  in  direct 
trade,  as  against  the  indirect  traffic  oi 
the  conference  lines.  But  she  never  suc- 
ceeded in  carrying  her  own  coffee  in  nor- 
mal times,  and  coffee  makes  up  the  big- 
gest bulk  of  return  cargo  to  the  United 
States. 

When  we  have  fast,  comfortable 
steamships  running  frequently  to  Brazil 
and  Argentina,  some  of  the  disadvan- 
tages in  securing  return  treight  may  be 
overcome  by  passenger  traffic.  Latin 
Americans  are  just  as  willing  to  use  our 
country  as  a  market,  a  school,  a  play- 
ground and  a  winter  or  summer  resort 
as  we  are  to  use  their  countries  and  con- 
trasts in  climate. 

Our  sea  route  to  the  east  coast  of 
South  America  has  become  a  blind  alley, 
largely  through  own  own  neglect.  We 
have  solved  much  knottier  transporta- 
tion problems  at  home  by  boosting  the 


BRAZIL 

volume  of  traffic.  It  is  up  to  the  Ameri- 
can business  man  to  boost  our  traffic  both 
ways  with  Brazil  and  Argentina. 


R1 


ARTICLE  XXX 

U.  S.  SALESMEN,  SHY 
ON  DETAIL,  FAIL  IN 
SOUTH  AMERICA 

IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Oct.  21.— The 

•  biggest  sale  anybody  can  make  in 
world  trade  is  the  sale  at  home,  before 
he  starts,  to  his  own  boss,  or  the  board 
of  directors,  or  whatever  powers  may  be. 

Latin  America  is  full  of  disappointed 
Yankees  who  have  failed  to  make  that 
sale  at  home  and  found  themselves  lack- 
ing support,  and  also  full  of  half-organ- 
ized connections  and  outlets  for  Ameri- 
can goods  for  the  same  reason. 

So  before  H.  H.  Batcheller  started  for 
the  southern  continent  last  summer  he 
took  extra  pains  to  have  his  boss  visu- 
alize the  possibilities  in  world  markets 
so  that  he  would  be  consistently  sup- 
ported when  he  arrived  abroad.  In  this 
case  the  "boss"  is  composite — the  board 
of  directors  and  management  of  the 
Elgin  Motorcar  Corporation,  in  Chi- 
cago. Mr.  Batcheller  is  export  man- 
ager of  the  company,  with  years  of  ex- 
perience in  South  America  as  a  ship- 
ping man.  He  speaks  Spanish  and  Por- 
tuguese, and  went  with  all  the  advan- 
tages of  acquaintance  to  back  up  the 
directors.  But  even  then  there  were 
difficulties  and  omissions,  and  the  story 
of  just  how  he  established  the  first  Elgin 
branch  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  gives  a  con- 
crete viewpoint  of  this  direct  branch 
proposition. 

The  sale  at  home  was  made  against 
typical  1919  difficulties.  Like  every 
other  manufacturing  concern,  this  com- 


67 

pany  can  find  plenty  of  customers  for  its 
present  output,  and  the  allotment  of 
even  a  small  number  of  cars  to  world 
markets  calls  for  careful  management. 
World  markets  may  not  be  really  needed 
for  several  years.  But  they  will  be 
needed  some  day,  and  now  is  the  time 
to  establish  real  world  connections.  Be- 
fore starting  it  was  necessary  that  direc- 
tors not  only  visualize  this  in  terms  of 
company  policy,  among  many  other  pol- 
icy considerations,  but  also  become  en- 
thusiastic about  it  and  determine  to 
stick. 

Mr.  Batcheller  found  the  Brazilians 
decidedly  excited  about  prospects  of  new 
automobiles  from  Europe.  During  the 
war  they  have  been  buying  American 
cars,  but  before  that  European  cars  dom- 
inated the  market.  There  is  a  belief 
that  the  European  automobiles  are  bet- 
ter, and  while  the  Brazilian  cannot  ex- 
plain why,  the  belief  exists  and  must  be 
dealt  with.  European  cars  of  pre-war 
days,  still  running  in  Brazil,  are  highly 
ornamental,  with  their  brass  work  and 
nickel  plating,  while  the  Yankee  cars 
are  rather  plain  in  this  respect.  The 
Brazilian  is  beginning  to  see  that  Yankee 
lines  have  beauty,  but  is  still  partial  to 
brass  work.  The  idea  of  fashions  in 
motorcars,  with  a  new  model  each  year, 
is  still  novel  to  him,  because  durability 
has  always  been  the  prime  merit  in  Eu- 
ropean cars.  Because  he  valued  an  au- 
tomobile for  its  lasting  qualities,  the 
second-hand  branch  of  the  automobile 
business  is  not  yet  developed  in  Brazil. 

EUROPE  BEHIND  IN  AUTOS 

"pUROPE  is  not  yet  sending  automo- 
biles  to  South  America,  but  she  is 
sending  wonder  stories  about  new  cars 
made  by  Yankee  quantity  production 
methods — French  cars,  Italian  cars, 
British  cars  and  what  not,  of  marvelous 


POLICE    GUARD    OUTSIDE    OP   POLLING    PLACE  ON   ELECTION  DAT 


68 

durability,  ornateness  and  cheapness.  In- 
vestigation of  this  situation  leads  Mr. 
Batcheller  to  believe  there  are  very  few 
cars  behind  the  stories.  In  one  or  two 
cases  European  manufacturers  really 
have  developed  cars  with  a  view  to 
quantity  production,  but  the  economies 
of  quantity  production  are  possible  only 
when  output  reaches  15,000  to  20,000 
automobiles  a  year,  and  these  figures  still 
seem  enormous  to  European  automobile 
manufacturers. 

The  first  step  was  to  find  a  repre- 
sentative in  Rio  de  Janeiro.  This  re- 
quired considerable  search,  and  the  right 
man  proved  to  be  a  Brazilian,  trained  in 
mechanical  engineering  in  the  United 
States,  who  was  connected  with  an  im- 
porting house  handling  automobiles,  but 
wished  to  embark  in  business  for  him- 
self. Not  possessing  sufficient  capital 
to  finance  a  branch,  however,  it  then  be- 
came necessary  to  form  a  connection  with 
an  importing  concern  in  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro, and  that  was  done,  the  representa- 
tive becoming  manager  of  the  automobile 
department,  with  a  substantial  interest  in 
every  car  sold.  With  one  or  two  ex- 
ceptions, Mr.  Batcheller  found  display, 
service  and  upkeep  of  automobiles  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro  capable  of  vast  improve- 
ment. 

The  next  step  was  novel — that  of  let- 
ting Brazilians  know  in  a  very  short 
time  that  the  Elgin  car  had  arrived  and 
possessed  interesting  qualities.  For  that 
purpose  a  jumping  demonstration  had 
been  planned  on  spectacular  lines. 
Evolved  at  home,  it  was  just  the  sort  of 
"stunt"  likely  to  appeal  to  the  folks 
down  in  Latin  America,  where  hardly 
anything  of  the  sort  ever  has  been  seen. 
This  jump  was  made  by  building  an  in- 
cline on  some  prominent  street,  sloping 
upward  from  the  pavement  to  a  height 
of  two  feet.  The  car  is  then  driven  up 
the  incline  at  about  fifty-five  miles  an 
hour  and  leaps  fifty  to  sixty  feet  in  the 
air,  reaching  a  height  of  about  four  feet. 
It  takes  a  light,  strong,  flexible  automo- 
bile to  do  it,  and  is  hazardous.  The 
driver  must  be  expert,  meeting  the  shock 
by  partly  rising  from  his  seat.  A  special 
driver  accompanied  Mr.  Batcheller  for 
this  performance. 

DEMONSTRATION  IS  SUCCESS 

TX)  SECURE  permission  for  the  use  of 
a  prominent  street  in  Rio  de  Janeiro 
and  police  assistance  in  handling  crowds 
took  considerable  time,  for  the  idea  was 
new.  When  arrangements  had  been 
made,  invitations  were  sent  to  promi- 
nent Brazilians,  particularly  officials  and 
automobile  owners,  and  the  jump  was 
pulled  off  on  a  bright  Sunday  morning. 
The  effect  was  magnificent.  The  Bra- 
zilians liked  the  show,  and  with  true 
Latin  enthusiasm  carried  the  driver  on 
their  shoulders  when  the  stunt  was  over. 
There  is  a  circus  element  about  our  au- 
tomobile industry,  and  the  Latin  Ameri- 


BRAZIL 


cans  make  the  finest  possible  circus  audi- 
ence. 

This  performance  was  later  repeated 
at  Sao  Paulo  and  immediately  brought 
the  Elgin  car  into  notice.  Motor  own- 
ers and  drivers  discussed  it  and  came  up 
to  examine  the  car  wherever  it  appeared. 
The  car  itself  could  have  been  sold  many 
times  over  after  the  demonstrations,  and 
this  was  one  of  the  omissions  in  plan- 
ning Mr.  Batcheller's  trip.  Through 
factory  difficulties  it  was  possible  for  him 
to  take  only  a  few  sample  cars,  whereas 
had  substantial  shipments  been  possible, 
furnishing  a  stock  of  cars  for  direct  sell- 
ing after  the  demonstration,  buying  en- 
thusiasm would  have  been  utilized  in 
immediate  sales. 

After  establishing  branches  with  com- 
petent representatives  and  a  good  dis- 
play, backed  by  cars  for  immediate  de- 
livery, the  next  essential  is  service  to 
purchasers.  The  Elgin  organization  in 
Latin  America  will  include  trained  serv- 
ice men  at  each  branch,  with  traveling 
service  men  covering  the  territory,  visit- 
ing branches  and  owners.  Upkeep  of 
automobiles  in  Brazil  is  far  below  our 
own  standards.  Brazilian  mechanics 
have  not  enjoyed  facilities  for  learning 
mechanism,  and  automobiles  are  consid- 
ered satisfactory  so  long  as  they  actually 
run,  regardless  of  squeaks  and  rattles. 
Because  squeaks  and  rattles  are  not  rem- 
edied from  day  to  day  automobiles  stead- 
ily deteriorate.  At  the  end  of  five  years, 
lacking  a  second-hand  market,  the  car 
becomes  a  taxicab. 

While  Brazilian  drivers  are  not  yet 
good  mechanics  they  are  good  chauffeurs 
because  supervised  by  a  very  commend- 
able license  system.  It  takes  fully  one 
month  to  secure  a  chauffeur's  license. 
During  that  period  the  candidate  must 
pass  examinations  and  undergo  road 
trials,  be  photographed  and  leave  his  fin- 
gerprints with  the  police  and  his  license 
is  a  book  in  which  the  authorities  keep 
his  record.  If  he  is  arrested  for  careless 
driving  that  is  entered  in  the  book,  to 
appear  against  him  the  next  time  he  gets 
into  trouble.  Owners  can  drive  by  se- 
curing a  different  form  of  license,  but 
this  takes  time  and  routine  and  deters 
driving  by  owners  and  especially  driving 
by  women,  who  find  the  police  routine 
distasteful.    The  Rio  de  Janeiro  authori- 


ties have  co-operated  with  the  American 
Chamber  of  Commerce  in  modifying 
license  regulations  so  that  American  au- 
tomobile salesmen  who  are  competent 
drivers  secure  permission  to  drive  in 
connection  with  their  work. 

Mr.  Batcheller  advises  American  au- 
tomobile manufacturers  to  decline  cable 
orders  for  a  few  cars,  sent  by  importers 
in  world  markets,  who  merely  wish  to 
add  a  few  automobiles  to  their  diversi- 
fied assortment  of  general  merchandise. 
Unless  the  manufacturer  goes  into  world 
markets  right,  with  a  real  organization, 
he  is  merely  dabbling  with  the  business, 
getting  nowhere  himself  and  bringing 
discredit  upon  others.  Automobile  sales 
should  be  backed  up  with  service. 

Great  care  should  be  exercised  in  se- 
lecting men  sent  abroad  to  establish 
world  trade  outlets.  They  should  be 
first-rate  American  business  men  speak- 
ing the  other  fellow's  language,  not  for- 
eigners chosen  because  they  have  the  sin- 
gle qualification  of  language.  Once 
abroad,  business  should  be  done  by  fast 
cable  regardless  of  cost.  Through  some 
queer  pennywise-pound-foolish  viewpoint 
many  a  big  American  concern  tries  to  do 
business  by  letter  with  its  men  in  world 
markets,  whereas  with  contracts  and  or- 
ders being  shaped  up  from  day  to  day 
and  buying  enthusiasm  created  through 
hard  sales  effort,  even  deferred  cable  mes- 
sages are  too  slow  and  cause  delay  which 
kills  sales  and  buying  ardor. 


ARTICLE  XXXI 

"COAL"  IS  THE  KEYWORD 
TO  LATIN-AMERICAN  TRADE 

jD^IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Oct.  25.— 
"Coal"  is  the  keyword  to  Latin- 
American  trade,  and  Brazil  shows  why. 
Her  fuel  consumption  amounts  to  3,000,- 
000  tons  a  year.  This  runs  her  railroads 
and  river  boats,  bringing  products  of 
forests,  soil  and  mines  down  from  the 
interior  to  be  sent  abroad  for  manufac- 
tured goods.  We  need  Brazil's  coffee 
and  rubber,  while  Europe  needs  Brazil- 
ian meat  and  hides.  Lacking  coal  mines 
of  her  own,  we  must  furnish  Brazil  the 
fuel  to  keep  her  industries  going  and  de- 
velop new  resources. 

Before  the  war  John  Bull  sold  more 
than  6,000,000  tons  of  coal  yearly  to 
Brazil,  Argentina  and  Uruguay,  while 
our  sales  were  less  than  500,000  tons. 
"Coal"  was  also  the  keyword  in  Brit- 
ish merchant  shipping  and  world  trade, 
because  it  kept  ocean  tonnage  employed 
outward  from  England  on  the  first  leg  of 
the  triangular  trade  routes  that  char- 
acterized  British   overseas  commerce. 

During  the  war  the  United  States 
largely  supplied  Latin  America's  coal. 
To  be  sure  there  were  only  half  rations, 
but  profound  changes  occurred  in  the 
trade,  and  now  that  war  is  over  there 
promise  to  be  further  changes. 


BRAZIL 


69 


Today  Brazil  is  buying  most  of  its 
coal  from  the  United  States,  and  Phila- 
delphia is  doing  the  selling.  Actual  ship- 
ments are  made  through  Norfolk,  but 
the  only  American  coal  concern  with  its 
own  representatives  and  branches  in  Rio 
de  Janeiro  and  Buenos  Aires  is  a  Phila- 
delphia concern,  Gano,  Moore  &  Co. 
When  the  armistice  was  signed  M.  Rea 
Gano,  president  of  the  company,  set  out 
to  investigate  the  coal  situation  from  top 
to  bottom.  He  began  in  France,  being 
among  the  first  civilian  visitors  to  the 
devastated  regions;  went  on  to  England, 
and  followed  with  two  visits  to  Brazil 
and  Argentina.  His  investigations  cov- 
ered every  phase  of  the  situation,  which 
is  complex,  and  when  he  sailed  home 
from  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  September  he  was 
able  to  answer  many  questions  which 
men  in  world  trade  in  the  United  States, 
England  and  Latin 
America  have  been 
asking  themselves 
the  last  year. 

"The  Latin- 
American  coal 
trade    is   ours    for 
several      years     to 
come,"   Mr.  Gano 
said.      "The     first 
factor  to  be  taken 
into  account  is  the 
French  mines.    In 
my   opinion,    these 
are  absolutely 
ruined  and  cannot 
be   made    to    yield 
for     many     years. 
The  next  factor  is 
British    coal     pro- 
duction. Before  the 
war  it  amounted  to 
280,000,000     tons 
a    year,    of    which 
150,000,000     tons 
were  used  at  home 
and      130,000,000 
tons   exported. 
Great   Britain    to- 
day   is    mining    only     175,000,000     to 
200,000,000  tons,  and  so  is  in  position  to 
export  only  from  25,000,000  to  50,000,- 
000  tons.    There  can  be  no  great  British 
coal  exports  this  year,  because  the  indus- 
try is  upset  by  labor  troubles,  and  even 
should  strife  cease  it  will  take  years  to 
bring  production  back  to  normal.     For 
the  British  coal  mines  were  'robbed'  for 
military  purposes  during  the  war,   and 
can  only  be  brought  back  into  produc- 
tion by  costly  development.    France  will 
need  all  the  export  coal  that  Great  Brit- 
ain can  supply  for  several  years.     The 
state  of  the  British  coal  industry  is  really 
pitiable  and  indicates  that  Latin  America 
must  look  to  us  for  her  fuel  supplies. 

AMERICAN  COAL  $24  A  TON 

"/")UR  own  production  has  increased 

during  the  war,  rising  from  550,- 

000,000  tons  to  700,000,000  tons.    Of 


this,  probably  150,000,000  tons  will  be 
available  for  export,  and  with  the  pres- 
ent shipping  facilities  enjoyed  by  Ameri- 
can coal  exporters  it  can  be  sent  on  defi- 
nite delivery  contracts  to  virtually  every 
country  in  the  world. 

"But  our  task  is  not  easy.  The  Ameri- 
can coal  industry  faces  a  labor  shortage, 
with  decreased  efficiency  of  the  individ- 
ual miner.  Return  cargoes  for  coal  ships 
from  Brazil  have  dropped  off  because  we 
are  buying  manganese  cheaper  in  other 
countries,  and  it  will  be  necessary  to 
organize  for  return  cargoes  from  Argen- 
tina. But  our  advantage  is  strikingly 
shown  here  today  in  Rio  de  Janeiro.  1 
have  just  unloaded  a  cargo  of  American 
coal  at  $24  a  ton,  and  for  bunkering  one 
of  our  chartered  ships  just  now  am  buy- 
ing British  coal  at  $35  a  ton." 

"Will  it  be  possible  to  install  Ameri- 


PATHBR   PETRA.    FIRST   PRIEST   CANDIDATE    FOR   ALDERMAN 

can  automatic  coal-handling  machinery 
in  Latin-American  ports?"  Mr.  Gano 
was  asked.  "The  present  methods  of 
unloading  by  hand  labor,  and  especially 
into  lighters,  seem  slow  and  costly. 
Would  automatic  machinery  cut  costs 
and  cheapen  coal  to  Latin-American  con- 
sumers?" 

"That  is  a  complicated  problem,"  he 
answered.  "It  is  political  as  well  as 
economic.  Let  us  consider  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro. Hand  labor  here  is  cheaper  than 
people  think.  When  stevedores  are 
speeded  up  they  will  get  1200  to  1800 
tons  of  coal  daily  out  of  a  ship.  An  au- 
tomatic handling  installation  capable  of 
taking  several  thousand  tons  daily  out 
of  several  ships,  and  with  100,000  tons' 
storage,  would  call  for  a  $2,000,000  in- 
vestment. It  would  be  necessary  to  buy 
an  island  here  and  bring  all  the  machin- 


ery from  the  United  States.  Fixed 
charges  of  interest  alone,  at  6  per  cent, 
would  be  $10,000  a  month.  If  all  Bra- 
zil's coal  could  be  handled  that  way  there 
would  be  lower  costs  on  300,000  tons 
monthly.  But  the  political  complications 
are  so  many  that  a  similar  investment 
at  home,  in  some  other  direction,  might 
be  more  attractive. 

TARIFF  ON  COAL  $3.50 

"DRAZIL  imposes  a  tariff  duty  of  14,- 
500  milreis  per  ton  on  coal,  equal 
to  $3.50  our  money.  This  is  assumed 
to  protect  her  own  coal  production.  But 
the  greatest  possible  Brazilian  produc- 
tion is  figured  at  only  200,000  tons  a 
year.  It  is  nearer  100,000  tons,  actual 
output.  The  mines  are  far  south  in  the 
state  of  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  the  coal  is 
inferior  and  costs  more  delivered  in  Rio 
de  Janeiro  than 
American  coal. 
'Why  protect  coal 
that  you  haven't 
got?'  is  one  of  the 
first  questions  that 
Brazilian  1  e  g  i  s- 
lators  may  well  ask 
themselves,  and 
from  them  must 
come  the  answer. 
"Another  handi- 
cap of  political 
character  is  the 
multitude  of  taxes 
and  fines  imposed 
upon  business  men 
hy  the  Brazilian 
government,  fed- 
eral and  state.  A 
slight  oversight  in 
the  wording  of  our 
company's  sign 
here  in  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  for  in- 
stance, would  lay 
us  open  to  a  5  per 
cent  tax  upon  our 
capital.  Both  in 
Brazil  and  Argentina  there  is  a  disposi- 
tion to  burden  outside  enterprises  with 
taxes  and  regulations  and  very  often  su- 
perfluous employes.  In  the  end  it  is  not 
outside  enterprises  which  pay  these  taxes, 
but  the  Brazilian  and  Argentine  peo- 
ples themselves.  They  pay  not  only  in 
the  form  of  unjust  prices  for  commodi- 
ties, but  in  tardy  development  of  their 
resources.  The  Brazilians  and  Argen- 
tinians have  wonderful  opportunities  to 
develop  their  countries.  It  is  largely 
lack  of  experience  in  big  business  enter- 
prises, together  with  an  unbalanced 
"scheme  of  taxation  through  a  multitude 
of  makeshift  imposts,  that  leads  them 
to  hamper  outside  enterprises.  No  true 
friend  of  these  countries  should  keep 
silent  on  such  a  point,  for  outside  capital 
carefully  weighs  such  considerations  and 
sees  the  disadvantages,  even  though  the 


70 


BRAZIL 


Brazilians  and  Argentinos  do  not,  and 
goes  elsewhere.  It  is  not  enough  nowa- 
days to  get  capital  to  work  for  you — you 
must  help  it  work  with  facility." 

During  the  war  persistent  efforts  were 
made  to  discredit  American  coal  among 
Latin  Americans.  In  more  than  one  in- 
stance cargoes  of  the  cheapest  grade  were 
bought  in  the  United  States  by  middle- 
men of  other  nationalities  and  sold  at  a 
good  profit  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Buenos 
Aires.  When  purchasers  found  difficulty 
in  burning  this  stuff,  full  of  slate  and 
rock,  they  were  told  that  it  was  typical 
American  coal,  thus  strengthening  the 
prevalent  belief  on  the  southern  conti- 
nent that  our  coal  is  inferior  to  that  from 
other  countries. 

TENDENCY  TOWARD  MAN-POWER 
D  IO  DE  JANEIRO  has  only  one  coal 
deposit  situated  so  that  large  ocean 
steamships  can  go  alongside  a  dock  and 
fill  their  bunkers.  As  bunkering  facili- 
ties have  been  almost  entirely  controlled 
by  other  nations,  and  our  effort  thus  far 
has  been  along  the  line  of  selling  coal  by 
the  shipload  to  large  purchasers  in  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  both  our  naval  and  merchant 
ships  have  been  dependent  on  the  facili- 
ties of  other  nations,  paying  higher 
prices  than  were  charged  for  American 
coal  bought  by  Brazilian  railways,  pub- 
lic utilities  and  manufactures.  Mr. 
Gano  intends  to  lay  this  situation  before 
the  Navy  Department  and  United  States 
shipping  board,  believing  that  the  instal- 
lation of  modern  unloading  and  bunker- 
ing facilities  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  other 
Latin-American  ports  is  not  entirely  a 
matter  of  private  business. 

Some  years  ago  automatic  equipment 
for  unloading  American  coal  was  in- 
stalled in  Rio  de  Janeiro  harbor  to  lower 
costs  on  the  fuel  supply  to  a  public  util- 
ity company  and  also  one  of  the  Brazil- 
ian railways.  This  equipment  was  de- 
signed in  the  United  States,  and  op- 
erated very  efficiently  for  a  time,  hand- 
ling 2000  tons  a  day.  Through  some 
shortcoming  in  installation,  said  to  be 
due  to  scamp  work  on  the  part  of  a  con- 
tractor, who  used  defective  concrete  pil- 
ing, a  section  of  the  unloading  platform 
collapsed  while  an  American  steamship 
was  discharging  coal  and  the  equipment 
now  lies  idle,  the  subject  of  a  lawsuit. 
In  another  case  an  American  automatic 
device  for  handling  cargo  lies  idle  be- 
cause there  is  prejudice  against  it.  In 
still  another  case  an  American  shipping 
company  offered  to  install  a  $500,000 
unloading  device  at  the  dock  of  a  Bra- 
zilian steamship  company,  serving  a  Bra- 
zilian railroad  as  well,  but  the  project 
fell  through  because  the  Brazilian  com-  , 
pany  would  not  permit  the  American 
company  to  operate  its  Own  equipment. 

So,  on  the  whole,  as  Mr.  Gano  main- 
tains, the  installation  of  labor-saving  de- 
vices in  Latin  America  seems  to  be  very 
largely  a  matter  of  self-education  for  the 
Latin  Americans. 


ARTICLE  XXXII    . 

AMERICAN  BANK  METHODS 
WON  FIRM  HOLD  IN  BRAZIL 

J^IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Nov.  1.— In 
April,  1915,  a  little  party  of  Ameri- 
can bank  men  got  off  the  boat  in  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  squeezed  into  the  already 
crowded  Rua  Alfandega,  the  narrow  side 
street  which  is  the  city's  financial  center, 
and  began  business  with  a  torce  number- 
ing less  than  a  dozen  people.  They  knew 
a  good  deal  about  banking  as  we  do  it 
at  home,  but  not  very  much  about  Bra- 
zil or  the  Brazilians — but  they  were 
willing  to  learn. 

In  September,  this  year,  the  branch  of 
the  National  City  Bank  of  New  York 
which  they  started  then  moved  into  a 
three-story  building  of  its  own  on  the 
Avenida  Rio  Branco.  Today  the  organi- 
zation numbers  130  persons,  the  bank 
has  $65,000,000  deposits,  is  the  largest 
of  all  foreign  banks  in  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
except  only  the  Portuguese,  and  is  the 
fourth  largest  bank  in  the  city,  with 
other  branches  in  Sao  Paulo,  Santos  and 
Bahia. 

Moving  a  bank  out  on  to  the  main 
boulevard  is  something  new  in  the  Bra- 
zilian capital.  The  Yankees  quickly  saw 
the  convenience  to  depositors,  and  have 
combined  prominence  of  location  with  a 
position  in  the  old  bank  center,  because 
the  building  is  at  the  corner  of  the  Aven- 
ida and  the  Rua  Alfandega.  They  will 
not  be  alone  on  the  Avenida  very  long, 
however,  because  the  Canadians  are  set- 
ting up  shop  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  with  a 
branch  of  the  enterprising  Royal  Bank 
of  Canada  on  the  Avenida,  too. 

Our  Yankee  bank  has  grown  in  Bra- 
zil because  it  gives  the  Brazilians  better . 
banking  service  than  they  ever  have  en- 
joyed before. 

Take  collections  as  an  illustration. 
Brazil  is  scattered  all  over  creation.  It 
takes  three  weeks  for  a  letter  to  travel 
from  Rio  Grande  do  Sul  to  Manaos,  and 
communication  to  points  in  neighboring 
west-coast  countries  is  often  carried  on 
best  through  New  York.  When  the 
Yankees  came  to  Brazil  business  men 
were  paying  as  much  as  one-half  of  1  per 
cent  to  banks  for  collecting  money  from 
customers  in  connection  with  the  big  do- 
mestic business  carried  on  through  Rio 
de  Janeiro,  and  these  collections  were 
scattered  among  two  dozen  different 
banks,  Brazilian,  British,  Portuguese, 
Spanish,  French  and  Italian.  The  Ameri- 
can bank  gave  collection  service  for  one- 
quarter  of  1  per  cent,  built  up  volume, 


reduced  its  charge  to  one-tenth  of  1  per 
cent,  and  today  has  half  the  collection 
business  of  the  city. 

BANKERS  SPEED  METHODS 

\\^HEN  the  traveler  stepped  into  a 
bank  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  five  years 
ago  to  get  money  on  his  letter  of  credit 
the  teller  asked  him  to  come  back  several 
hours  later,  or  perhaps  next  morning. 
There  is  quite  a  little  paper  work  con- 
nected with  drawing  money  on  a  letter 
of  credit  in  Latin-American  countries. 
First,  three  bills  of  exchange  must  be 
drawn,  the  original  to  go  in  one  mail,  the 
duplicate  in  another,  and  the  third  to  be 
filed  away  bearing  internal  revenue 
stamps.  The  customer  signs  these  bills, 
the  amount  is  entered  in  his  letter  of 
credit,  and  then  pounds  or  dollars  must 
be  converted  into  the  Latin-American 
money  at  the  fluctuating  rates  of  ex- 
change. Cash  slips  must  be  made  out 
for  the  bookkeepers  after  that.  Bankers 
handled  these  details  leisurely,  like  checks 
and  clearings,  after  hours.  The  Ameri- 
cans immediately  speeded  up  letter-of- 
credit  service  so  the  customer  gets  his 
money  over  the  counter  in  a  few  min- 
utes. 

Foreign  exchange  is  handled  in  the 
same  aggressive  way,  and  with  salesman- 
ship and  personality.  Brazilian  business 
is  done  in  a  dozen  different  currencies, 
European  and  Latin-American.  As  a 
rule,  the  British  bank  sticks  pretty  close 
to  pounds  and  milreis,  the  French  bank  to 
francs  and  milreis,  the  Portuguese  banks 
to  escudos  and  milreis,  and  so  on.  None 
of  them  was  at  home  with  the  dollar. 
The  American  bank  put  foreign  ex- 
change in  the  hands  of  a  man  thor- 
oughly at  home  with  all  the  curren- 
cies, quick  at  figuring  the  rates,  prompt 
in  buying  any  good  paper  presented 
and  reaching  out  all  over  Brazil  for 
it  with  salesmanship  and  service,  not 
to  mention  better  terms  than  were  offered 
by  other  institutions.  Therefore,  the 
Yankees  also  have  the  bulk  of  the  for- 
eign exchange  business. 

Checks  are  very  little  used  in  Brazil 
as  yet,  though  they  would  effect  great 
business  economies.  The  American  bank 
and  its  American  depositors  are  making 
checks  better  known  by  the  practical 
method  of  using  them  in  everyday  trans- 
actions, and  efforts  are  being  made  to  in- 
troduce them  with  the  co-operation  of  the 
Brazilian  Government. 

In  a  country  where  virtually  every- 
thing pays  duty  at  the  customs  house  even 
the  small  business  man  has  almost  daily 
dealings  with  the  government.  When  a 
Brazilian  importer  pays  tariff  duties  now 
he  goes  to  the  bank,  draws  cash,  takes  it 
to  the  customs  house,  and  the  money  is 
then  returned  to  a  bank.  This  involves 
counting  and  handling  a  half  dozen 
times.  If  checks  were  used,  money  need 
not  be  handled  at  all,  but  would  remain 


BRAZIL 


71 


in  the  banks,  and  the  business  transacted 
by  accounting  and  clearing.  Govern- 
ment officials  are  beginning  to  see  the 
convenience  and  economy  of  checks,  and 
contemplate  authorizing  the  acceptance  of 
certified  checks  for  the  payment  of  du- 
ties and  taxes.  This  would  greatly  fa- 
cilitate Brazilian  business  and  lead  to  the 
use  of  checks  in  other  transactions.  The 
chief  difficulty  to  be  overcome  is  politi- 
cal opposition  from  thousands  of  govern- 
ment employes  who  are  kept  busy  count- 
ing cash  under  the  present  system. 

SERVICE  IS  APPRECIATED 

HpHAT  Brazilians  appreciate  service  in 
banking  is  shown  by  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  American  bank,  which  has 
become  one  of  the  leading  financial  in- 
stitutions of  Brazil  in  less  than  five  years. 

It  is  not  easy  to  do  business  in  Brazil. 
Distance  and  time  enter  into  most  trans- 
actions, for  some  sections  of  the  country 
are  farther  away  than  the  United  States 
or  Europe,  so  far  as  business  facility  is 
concerned.  Banks  are  often  lacking  in 
the  interior.  There  are  few  railways; 
the  republic  has  an  inelastic  currency  sys- 
tem which  restricts  credit,  and  currency 
is  not  merely  insufficient  to  transact  the 
business  of  the  country  but  circulates 
with  difficulty. 

European  banking  is  often  done  on 
horse-trading  principles.  The  banker 
handles  each  transaction  for  the  utmost 
profit.  One  depositor  bargains  with  him 
for  a  good  rate  of  interest  on  a  small 
balance  this  morning,  and  he  makes  it 
up  this  afternoon  by  permitting  some 
nervous  old  lady  to  keep  her  money  in 
the  bank  for  nothing. 

The  American  idea  in  banking  is  to 
build  volume  of  business  through  serv- 
ice, cut  down  costs,  share  economies  with 
customers,  treat  everybody  alike  in  the 
matter  of  interest  and  terms  and  facili- 
tate business  in  every  way.  Accustomed 
to  European  methods  in  the  past,  the 
Brazilians  seem  to  like  our  methods  bet- 
ter. 

American  bankers  have  been  financial 
teachers  at  home  the  last  ten  years,  ex- 
tending the  use  of  checks  and  trade  ac- 
ceptances through  educational  methods, 
inculcating  thrift,  encouraging  safe  in- 
vestment of  money  and  skillful  use  of 
credit,  and  so  on.  Brazilian  finance  and 
business  can  be  facilitated  through  simi- 
lar improvements  and  business  education, 
and  so  there  is  a  field  for  the  American 
banker  in  his  capacity  as  teacher  and 
business  leader. 

Much  good  work  for  both  American 
and  Brazilian  houses  has  been  done 
through  the  American  bank's  commer- 
cial service  department.  If  the  Brazil- 
ian wants  to  buy  goods  in  the  United 
States  the  bank  will  put  him  in  touch 
with  responsible  manufacturers  and  mer- 
chants, and,  through  its  organization  at 


home,  make  certain  that  the  concerns  to 
whom  Brazilian  customers  are  referred 
have  the  facilities  and  experience  for  con- 
ducting world  trade.  This  teamwork  is 
overcoming  handicaps  of  time  and  dis- 
tance in  dealing  with  the  United  States, 
and  is  eliminating  mistakes,  misunder- 
standings and  friction  generally. 

EMPLOYES  TAUGHT  IN  SCHOOL 

HpO  AMERICANS  visiting  or  living  in 
Brazil  the  bank  offers  every  service, 
regardless  of  whether  they  happen  to  be 
depositors  or  not.  Its  commercial  repre- 
sentatives will  make  a  hotel  or  steam- 
ship reservation  or  an  extended  investiga- 
tion into  some  business  field  with  the 
same  facility.  None  of  the  other  banks 
in  Brazil  has  anything  of  the  sort. 

Another  interesting  feature  of  the 
bank  is  the  language  classes. 

It  has  been  difficultto  get  employes  who 
understand  American  banking  and  also 
Brazil.  Banking  men  from  home  were 
sent  down  at  the  outset  and  "translated" 
into  Portuguese  and  the  Brazilian  busi- 
ness methods.  Then  Brazilians  were 
added  as  the  organization  grew,  and  to- 
day it  is  almost  entirely  Brazilian  ex- 
cept in  management,  and  even  there  Bra- 
zilians have  risen  to  the  supervision  of 
departments.  This  quickly  raised  the 
language  question,  of  course,  and  it  was 
solved  by  establishing  classes  in  the  bank 
where  Americans  could  study  Portuguese 
and  the  Brazilians  learn  English.  There 
are  two  classes  daily,  from  8  to  9  in  the 
morning  and  5  to  6  in  the  afternoon,  so 
that  students  come  an  hour  before  the 
bank  opens  or  stay  an  hour  later  after 
business.  All  American  employes  are  re- 
quired to  learn  Portuguese,  and  this  ap- 
plies also  to  the  Brazilians  and  English, 
with  some  exceptions.  The  Brazilians 
make  good  progress  against  difficulties 
which  do  not  handicap  the  Americans, 
for  where  the  latter  use  all  the  Portu- 
guese they  can  learn  every  day,  the  Bra- 
zilians find  few  opportunities  to  use  their 
English.  Therefore,  they  learn  to  read 
English  first,  and  to  understand  it,  be- 
fore they  learn  to  speak  the  language. 
The  ability  to  read  in  English  is  decid- 
edly helpful  in  their  work,  because  much 
of  the  bank's  correspondence  is  in  our 
language,  as  well  as  its  publications  at 
home,  like  house  organs.  So  are  the 
technical  journals  and  books  dealing  with 
American  banking  methods.  These  pub- 
lications, together  with  American  maga- 
zines and  newspapers,  are  available  in 
the  1  ink's  reading  room. 


ARTICLE  XXXIII 

SAO  PAULO  IS  BRAZIL'S 
BEEHIVE  OF  INDUSTRY 

|^IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Nov.  3.— "Say, 
where  is  that  town  anyway — is  it 
on  the  map?" 

The  speaker  was  a  Chicago  packing- 
house executive  and  his  boss  had  just 
told  him  to  go  down  to  Sao  Paulo,  Bra- 
zil, finish  building  a  big  new  plant  and 
get  it  running.  He  had  never  heard  of 
the  place  before — didn't  know  how  to 
pronounce  it. 

It  is  pronounced  "San  Paulo,"  and  is 
the  third  largest  city  in  South  America, 
approaching  500.000  people. 

The  Chicago  man  quickly  found  him- 
self at  home  there,  for  Sao  Paulo  makes 
a  strong  appeal  to  most  Americans.  It  is 
an  industrial  center,  backed  by  Brazil's 
developing  west,  and  the  practical  Amer- 
ican, studying  its  location,  business  and 
future,  understands  it  in  terms  of  his 
own  town  at  home  and  believes  in  Sao 
Paulo  and  roots  for  it. 

After  Rio  de  Janeiro,  balmy  and  color- 
ful, Sao  Paulo  is,  in  some  ways,  a  city 
one  might  admire  but  not  love.  The  fin- 
est railroad  train  in  Brazil  takes  you 
there  over  night,  the  "Luxo,"  with  com- 
partment sleeping  cars.  Leaving  sunny 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  you  go  "up  south"  and 
also  up  into  the  coast  range  of  Brazil, 
so  that  next  morning  you  probably  land 
in  rain  or  penetrating  cold.  Next  you 
discover  that  this  city,  the  size  of  Buf- 
falo, has  only  one  good  hotel,  the  Grand 
Hotel  de  la  Rotisserie  Sportsman.  Its 
manager  is  a  much  harassed  man.  Each 
morning  fetches  its  trainload  of  travel- 
ers who  plead  with  him  for  rooms,  bring 
influence  to  bear  upon  him,  jolly  him, 
bully  him  and  wait  all  day,  fluctuating 
between  hope  and  despair.  His  hundred 
rooms  are  one  of  the  finest  monopolies 
in  the  world,  but  his  job  is  nerve  rack- 
ing. 

Sao  Paulo's  beauties  are  not  architec- 
tural, but  industrial  and  commercial.  An 
amazing  tangle  of  narrow,  crooked 
streets,  it  outdistances  Boston's  cow 
paths  for  complexity.  Were  not  coal  so 
expensive  in  South  America  it  would 
probably  have  Pittsburgh's  smoke — for- 
tunately its  factories  run  largely  on 
water-power  electricity,  of  which  it  has 
sufficient  for  a  city  four  times  the  size. 

But  when  one  studies  it  from  the 
business  standpoint  it  is  revealed  as  a  city 
with  a  remarkable  past  and  a  still  more 
remarkable  future.  For,  through  its  port 
of  Santos,  about  sixty  miles  away,  it  is 
the  outlet  for  the  greatest  railroad  sys- 
tem in  Brazil,  which  centers  at  Cam- 
pinas, about  150  miles  to  the  northwest. 

Brazil  is  like  Gaul,  divided  into  three 
parts — the  Amazon  country  in  the  north, 
with  its  gateway  through  Para ;  the  cen- 
tral portion  that  finds  outlets  through 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  Bahia  and  Pernambuco, 
and  the  prosperous  southern  region,  with 


72 


BRAZIL 


ports  at  Santos,  Porto  Alegre  and  Rio 
Grande  do  Sul. 

But  Santos  and  Sao  Paulo  are  also  the 
gateway  for  Brazil's  great  New  West. 

RAIL  EXTENSIONS  PROPOSED 

T  OOK  at  the  map  and  you  will  see 
that  from  Santos  to  Campinas  the 
railroad  is  like  a  wrist,  and  northwest 
from  Campinas  the  hand  develops,  with 
fingers  reaching  up  into  the  states  of 
Minas  Geraes,  Goyaz  and  Matto  Grosso. 
These  fingers  are  constantly  growing. 
During  the  next  five  years  they  will 
probably  be  extended  farther  than  any 
other  railroad  lines  in  South  America. 
Each  extension  means  the  settlement  of 
new  coffee,  cattle  and  farming  lands,  pro- 
ducing wealth  for  export,  together  with 
cotton,  wool  and  other  raw  materials  for 
the  factories  of  Sao  Paulo.  Ultimately 
they  will  open  up  not  merely  the  great 
Brazilian  interior,  but  connect  with  rail- 
roads in  Bolivia, 
Peru,  Ecuador, 
Colombia  and 
Venezuela. 

The  Pan-Ameri- 
can railroad,  with 
express  trains  from 
New  York  to  Rio 
de  Janeiro  and 
Buenos  Aires,  will 
ultimately  be  sev- 
eral railroads,  run- 
ning down  through 
Mexico,  Central 
America  and  the 
southern  continent 
through  Brazil, 
Peru,  Bolivia, 
Chile  and  Argen- 
tina. Through  con- 
nections may  be 
made  on  several  of 
these  Campinas 
fingers  by  all-land 

route,  and  another  finger  may  run 
almost  due  north  through  the  Amazon 
country  to  some  Venezuelan  port,  con- 
necting with  steamships  for  New  Or- 
leans and  New  York. 

Between  Sao  Paulo  and  Santos  there 
is  a  granite  wall,  so  steep  that  the  single 
railroad  climbs  2500  feet  in  a  distance  of 
about  seven  miles,  and  operation  is  by 
cable  haulage,  with  electricity,  part  of 
the  way,  because  locomotives  are  not 
equal  to  the  grade,  one  of  the  steepest 
in  the  world.  Freighting  is  not  only  slow 
but  so  costly  that  cheap  bulk  products 
cannot  be  sent  to  the  ocean.  Thus,  Bra- 
zil's great  interior  is  like  a  bottle  with 
an  exceedingly  narrow  neck,  and  a  very 
little  study  of  the  situation  demonstrates 
that  some  day  the  neck  of  this  bottle  must 
be  enlarged  or  broken. 

Just  outside  of  Sao  Paulo,  Armour  & 
Co.  are  building  the  largest  meat-pack- 
ing plant  in  South  America.  It  has  ca- 
pacity for  loading  eighty  big  refrigera- 


tor cars  at  once.  Three  such  trains  are 
needed  to  load  the  average  refrigerator 
ship.  That  plant  alone,  working  full 
capacity,  promises  to  congest  the  single 
cable  railroad  to  Santos,  already  carry- 
ing most  of  the  coffee  that  the 
world  drinks.  This  railroad,  engineered, 
built  and  operated  by  a  British  company, 
is  a  monopoly,  under  concession,  so  that 
a  competing  line  cannot  be  built  within 
twenty-five  miles  on  either  side.  Freight 
is  hauled  in  the  small  ten-ton  "waggons" 
used  on  British  railroads,  where  forty- 
foot  American-type  refrigerator  cars  will 
be  needed  for  meat  traffic.  The  conces- 
sion ends  in  1927,  however,  and  Ameri- 
can railroad  engineers,  tackling  what 
was  declared  an  impossible  job,  have  lo- 
cated forty  miles  to  the  south  a  route 
over  which  locomotives  can  cross  the 
granite  wall  the  entire  distance  on  grades 
not  exceeding  2  per  cent.  So  there  seems 
to  be  no  real  difficulty  about  enlarging 


PALAC'IO    PRES1DENCIAI 


rilB    WHITE    HOUSE    OP    BRAZIL,    AT    RIO 


the  neck  of  the  bottle  when  it  becomes 
necessary — and  the  pressure  of  soil  prod- 
ucts from  the  interior  of  Brazil  will 
do  it. 

FREIGHT  RATES  HIGHER 
THAN  IN  THE  U.  S. 

A  SINGER  sewing  machine  can  be 
freighted  from  the  factory  in  New 
Jersey  to  St.  Louis  for  $1,  to  Denver  for 
another  dollar  and  San  Francisco  for  $3. 
In  Brazil  the  freights  are  three  times  as 
high,  and  only  commodities  like  coffee, 
which  will  stand  charges  of  $1  a  bag, 
are  profitably  exported.  This  is  due  to 
two  conditions.  First  comes  the  high 
cost  of  imported  coal  for  railroad  opera- 
tions, and,  second,  the  European  policy  of 
making  railroads  yield  the  highest  imme- 
diate dividends  for  investors  by  heavy 
traffic  charges.  The  fuel  situation  can  be 
remedied  in  two  ways.  Brazil  is  rich 
in  water  power  and  could  electrify  much 


of  her  railways — indeed  is  now  taking 
steps  to  do  so  in  the  Sao  Paulo  country. 
And  the  railroad  fingers  reaching  out 
from  Campinas  are  thrust  through  for- 
ests of  trees  which  will  supply  fuel  for 
many  years  to  come.  These  trees  must 
be  cleared  away  before  the  land  can  be 
cultivated,  and  as  they  are  useless  for 
lumber,  tanning  extract  or  dyewood, 
burning  them  to  haul  Brazil's  soil  prod- 
ucts to  market  is  the  best  use  to  which 
they  can  be  put. 

As  for  railroad  policy,  that  seems  to 
be  largely  a  matter  of  vision  and  dem- 
onstration. Our  West  was  opened  up 
by  building  railroads  where  no  popula- 
tion or  freight  existed,  making  rates  low 
enough  to  attract  settlers,  and  waiting 
over  periods  of  five  to  ten  years  for  divi- 
dends, which  were  very  satisfactory  when 
they  materialized. 

A  plucky  British  railroader  secured  a 
concession  for  a  short  railroad  tapping 
new  coffee  and 
farm  country  out 
where  the  trans- 
portation fingers 
are  growing  be- 
y  o  n  d  Campinas. 
Having  built  his 
line  under  many 
difficulties,  and  got 
a  single  locomotive, 
a  passenger  car  and 
some  "goods  wag- 
gons" upon  it,  he 
began  running  one 
train  a  week, 
charging  rates  so 
high  that  dividends 
were  earned  imme- 
diately. An  Ameri- 
can railroader  tried 
to  show  him  that 
with  reasonable 
rates  and  one  traih 
a  day,  while  he 
could  not  pay  dividends  for  several  years, 
he  would  be  developing  bulk  traffic  by 
encouraging  farmers  to  raise  new  prod- 
ucts, and  that  ultimately  his  earnings 
would  be  greatly  increased.  But  the 
Britisher  simply  could  not  see  it — his 
railroad  viewpoint  was  not  ours,  and  he 
is  still  running  the  weekly  train  with  a 
handful  of  passengers  and  a  "waggon" 
or  two  of  high-value  stuff. 

SAO  PAULO  ATTRACTS  AMERICANS 

pVERY  state  in  Brazil  pays  tribute  to 
Sao  Paulo,  because  it  is  the  greatest 
manufacturing  place  in  South  America, 
with  textile  mills,  shoe  and  clothing  fac- 
tories, food  and  other  industries,  sup- 
ported by  tariff  duties  much  higher  than 
our  own.  This  tariff  makes  commodi- 
ties so  costly  everywhere  in  Brazil  that 
many  of  the  Brazilians  advocate  lower 
duties  and  larger  importations  of  manu- 
factured stuff,  cutting  the  cost  of  living 
and  diverting  people  to  agriculture.  The 


BRAZIL 


73 


city  and  state  of  Sao  Paulo,  like  Phila- 
delphia and  Pennsylvania,  are  strong  po- 
litically as  well  as  industrially,  and  be- 
cause all  Brazilians  are  intensely  patri- 
otic and  the  young  republic  is  almost  boy- 
ishly eager  to  be  self-supporting  and 
self-contained  in  all  things,  Sao  Paulo 
continues  to  receive  its  tariff  tribute,  and 
to  make  nearly  everything  under  the  sun 
in  the  5000  factories,  great  and  small, 
within  the  state  borders. 

The  "Paulista"  admits  that  other 
states  pay  tribute  upon  his  cotton  cloth, 
woolen  suits,  shoes,  hats  and  what  not. 
But  he  also  points  proudly  to  the  over- 
whelming preponderance  of  his  coffee  in 
Brazil's  exports,  making  up  one-third  of 
the  total  sales  in  world  markets.  And 
to  coffee  his  state  is  adding  a  diversified 
agriculture  which  will  bring  economic 
stability  to  the  republic. 

The  city  of  Sao  Paulo  has  its  Ameri- 
can Chamber  of  Commerce  and  one  of 
the  most  hospitable  and  enterprising 
American  colonies  in  South  America. 
Before  the  war  there  were  not  more  than 
forty  or  fifty  Americans  there,  but  today 
they  number  several  hundred,  with  new- 
comers constantly  arriving.  Residents 
are  re-enforced  by  hundreds  of  traveling 
American  business  men. 

Climatically,  Sao  Paulo  is  unique. 
Lying  almost  exactly  upon  the  Tropic  of 
Capricorn,  it  is  exactly  the  position  of 
Havana  in  terms  of  northern  latitude. 
But  it  also  lies  on  an  elevation  of  3000 
feet,  so  that  it  is  a  tropical  city  with  a 
temperate  climate.  Bananas  and  pine- 
apples can  be  grown  within  its  borders, 
and  garden  stuff  fully  nine  months  a 
year,  with  two  crop  periods  for  field 
stuff,  the  first  in  September,  the  Brazil- 
ian spring,  and  the  second  three  to  four 
months  later.  Along  with  this  genijity 
of  temperature  there  are  severe  frosts 
every  eight  or  ten  years,  and  the  Sao 
Paulo  winter  is  less  genial  to  people 
than  to  plants,  because  characterized  by 
fogs  and  rain  and  penetrating  cold  that 
searches  out  every  room  in  the  unheated 
houses. 


ARTICLE  XXXIV 

TENNESSEE  WOMAN  SHOWED 
HOW  TO  WIN  OUT  IN  BRAZIL 

T>  IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Nov.  5.— Soap 
is  a  luxury  in  Rio  de  Janeiro — ordi- 
nary laundry  quality  costs  thirty-five  to 
forty  cents  a  pound,  and  a  fifteen-cent 
cake  of  toilet  soap  half  a  dollar. 

So  people  use  caustic  soda,  instead,  for 
washing  clothes. 

Clothes  do  not  last  long  in  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro— and  like  soap  they  cost  about  150 
per  cent  above  New  York  prices. 

Soda  crystals  are  better  for  washing, 
easier  on  clothes.  What  Rio  de  Janeiro 
needs  badly  is  a  good  steam  laundry,  with 
dry  cleaning  on   the   side.      But   mean- 


time soda  crystals  or  sal  soda  are  the 
thing. 

There  was  an  American  sal  soda  fac- 
tory in  the  Brazilian  capital,  but  for  some 
reason  it  had  grown  sickly. 

Along  came  an  American  woman 
looking  for  something  to  do.  With  a 
woman's  knowledge  of  home  life  she 
suggested  a  new  field  of  development  for 
the  sal  soda  factory — that  of  domestic 
use.  Up  to  then  all  the  attention  had 
been  centered  on  industrial  uses  and  the 
heavy  chemical  trade.  This  was  consid- 
ered so  promising  that  the  factory  was 
put  under  her  management. 

Today  she  is  building  up  grocer  distri- 
bution for  household  soda  crystals  under 


BRITISH   AMBASSADOR  VISITING  PRESIDENT 
PESSOA 


a  trademark  by  methods  which  are  famil- 
iar at  home,  but  decidedly  a  novelty  in 
Brazil. 

Once  get  a  trademark  established  in 
Brazil,  and  the  demand  for  your  prod- 
ucts will  make  your  old  age  comfortable. 
The  conservative  Brazilian  is  willing  to 
pay  more  for  a  trademarked  article 
that  he  knows,  even  though  it  is  a  sim- 
ple staple. 

Most  trademarks  have  been  estab- 
lished in  Brazil  by  taking  plenty  of  time. 
Our  quick,  intensive  way  through  con- 
sumer advertising  and  direct  sales  work 
to  secure  distribution  is  hardly  known. 

But  this  woman  is  doing  the  job  Yan- 
kee-fashion, and  mostly  doing  it  herself. 


SHE  OVERCAME  OBSTACLES 

jyjRS.  LUCIE  M.  MORGAN  sold  a 
successful  specialty  shop  in  Chatta- 
nooga, Tenn.,  about  three  years  ago  and 
wanted  a  vacation.  She  read  a  magazine 
article  about  South  America,  and,  with 
feminine  directness,  decided  to  go  there, 
set  out  for  Buenos  Aires,  got  off  at  Rio 
de  Janeiro,  liked  it,  stayed,  and  for  sev- 
eral months  alternated  rest  with  war 
work.  By  and  by  she  wanted  something 
real  to  do,  and  tried  to  get  a  plain  job 
selling  goods  for  an  import  house.  No- 
body would  put  her  on  the  sales  force — 
the  idea  of  a  woman  selling  goods  in 
Brazil  was  too  startling.  With  the  great- 
est difficulty  she  finally  got  a  chance  with 
the  Rio  de  Janeiro  branch  of  a  New  York 
exporting  house,  and  was  sent  out  to  sell 
silk.  Neither  the  house  nor  the  line 
seemed  to  be  getting  anywhere  in  Brazil. 
After  their  astonishment  over  the  woman 
"salesman"  (they  thought  she  was  a 
shopper  who  had  got  into  a  wholesale 
house  by  mistake  when  she  first  entered) 
the  Brazilian  merchants  treated  her  mag- 
nificently. But  they  regretfully  showed 
her  orders  for  that  identical  line  placed 
six  months  or  a  year  before  and  never 
filled. 

It  was  hard,  uphill  work,  but  the  fin- 
est possible  experience  in  Brazilian  busi- 
ness methods  and  the  Portuguese  lan- 
guage— three  months'  study  on  her  ar- 
rival in  Rio  de  Janeiro  had  given  her  a 
knowledge  of  Portuguese.  This  experi- 
ence also  led  to  a  resolution  to  next  time 
overcome  the  distance  handicap  on  im- 
porting by  selling  something  made  in 
Brazil,  right  at  hand  and  under  her  own 
control. 

When  she  took  up  soda  crystals  a  few 
visits  to  the  wholesale  houses  that  jobbed 
stuff  to  the  1200  retail  groceries  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro  demonstrated  that  her 
scheme  of  distribution  must  be  her  own. 

The  average  grocery  store  in  the  Bra- 
zilian capital  handles  actual  "grosseries." 
It  is  usually  a  little  place,  often  in  a  poor 
neighborhood,  run  by  a  hardworking 
Portuguese.  The  stock  is  limited  in 
quantity  and  variety,  comprising  chiefly 
Brazilian  "xarque,"  or  dried  beef,  salt 
meats,  beans,  rice,  coffee,  salt,  soap  and 
like  staples,  almost  entirely  in  bulk,  very 
few  package  articles  being  handled.  The 
idea  of  creating  demand  through  adver- 
tising, samples  and  judicious  placing  of 
small  initial  stocks  with  retailers  is  new 
to  the  wholesale  trade.  Mrs.  Morgan 
decided  that  if  distribution  was  made 
through  wholesalers  they  would  kill  the 
business  in  its  infancy  by  overloading  the 
little  retailers  before  they  had  learned  to 
sell  her  product  and  the  advertising  had 
started  consumer  demand. 

GOT  "LITTLE  FELLOW"  FIRST 

''THEREFORE,  she  became  her  own 

distributor,     got     an      automobile, 

loaded  it  with  sample  packages  and  small 


74 


BRAZIL 


dealer  lots  and  started  out  to  see  the  lit- 
tle grocers  herself. 

The  work  was  often  amusing.  When 
the  busy  little  Portuguese  saw  her  com- 
ing into  his  shop  he  sensed  a  profitable 
new  customer,  and  it  took  considerable 
explanation  to  convince  him  that  the  se- 
nhora  was  really  selling  goods.  No,  not 
selling  goods,  but  actually  giving  them 
away!  For,  first  of  all,  she  asked  him  to 
take  enough  samples  for  each  of  his  cus- 
tomers free  of  charge.  So  far  as  is  known, 
only  two  American  package  articles, 
Royal  Baking  Powder  and  Sapolio,  had 
ever  been  introduced  into  Brazil  by  sam- 
pling. She  also  gave  him  a  poster  to 
hang  in  his  store,  with  the  trademark 
and  some  facts  about  the  efficiency  and 
harmlessness  of  soda  crystals  as  com- 
pared with  other  laundry  chemicals.  Her 
product  has  a  simple  brand,  "Gato," 
which  means  "cat,"  and  can,  therefore, 
be  conveyed  by  a  picture — an  important 
consideration  in  Brazil,  where  80  per 
cent  of  the  people  cannot  read. 

That  concluded  the  first  interview. 
Coming  back  several  days  later,  she 
usually  found  the  little  grocer  selling  the 
samples,  not  giving  them  away.  Again 
the  idea  was  explained,  and  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro newspapers  opened  up  to  show  the 
advertising  which  was  going  on  to  bring 
him  customers.  Presently  he  got  the 
idea,  and  then  wanted  to  buy  a  big  stock 
of  the  "Soda  Crystalizada  Gato."  He 
would  take  twenty  milreis'  worth — 
eighty  pounds,  a  $5  order.  Instead,  she 
limited  him  to  ten  pounds— five  kilos. 
This  is  only  sixty-three  cents'  worth  and 
looked  like  small  business  by  our  stand- 
ards; but  it  is  the  way  to  get  things  going 
in  Brazil.  The  five-kilo  order  is  packed 
in  a  bag  bearing  the  trademark,  to  be  sold 
in  bulk,  because  the  average  sale  to  a 
grocer's  customer  is  too  small  for  pack- 
ages. He  sells  a  handful  of  the  stuff  for 
a  200-reis  piece.  This  is  written  $200, 
but  it  is  only  five  cents. 

The  whole  business  is  novel  to  the  lit- 
tle grocer.  Very  often  his  Portuguese 
conservatism  leads  him  to  declare  flatly 
that  he  won't  have  anything  to  do  with 
it.  It  is  a  distinct  mental  effort  for  him 
to  link  up  the  consumer  advertising, 
the  samples,  the  poster  and  his  own  profit 
on  the  five-kilo  bag.  But  his  profit  mar- 
gin is  generous,  and  the  senhora  explains 
that  he  is  going  to  make  some  money, 
and  comes  back  again  to  ask  if  he  is  ready 
to  begin  making  that  money  now,  and 
finally  he  gets  it  all  straight  in  his  head. 
After  that  he  is  the  most  loyal  customer 
in  the  world. 

"LUCKY  CATS"  IN  ADS 

TPHERE  are  two  different  lines  of  ad- 
vertising which  might  be  followed 
for  this  article — one  "reason  why"  and 
the  other  reiteration  of  trademark.  Tech- 
nically, sal  soda  has  advantages  over 
other  washing  chemicals  widely  used  in 
Brazil  because  it  will  not  destroy  cloth- 


ing. But,  instead  of  going  into  the  tech- 
nicalities, Mrs.  Morgan  simply  keeps 
the  brand  before  the  public.  Cats  bring 
good  luck  in  Brazil,  and  the  advertising 
emphasizes  the  "lucky  cat."  Evening 
papers  and  illustrated  magazines  going 
to  the  home  are  used,  the  copy  being 
chiefly  short  squibs  about  the  lucky  cat 
inserted  in  the  reading  column.  Cover- 
ing the  city  herself  and  supplying  goods 
out  of  her  own  car,  Mrs.  Morgan  is 
organizing  the  grocers  into  routes  for 
regular  visits,  to  keep  them  stocked  with- 
out overloading.  Her  experience  leads 
her  to  favor  the  building  up  of  her  own 
permanent  distributing  service  in  Rio  de 
Janeiro.  In  other  cities  agents  are  being 
appointed,  and  after  the  mechanism  of 
sampling  is  explained,  they  are  backed 
up  with  posters,  printed  matter  and  a 
certain  amount  of  money  monthly,  based 
on  their  orders,  for  local  advertising  pur- 
poses. 

There  are  a  good  many  discourage- 
ments in  establishing  such  a  business  in 
Brazil.  Advertising  of  the  right  kind 
shows  astonishingly  quick  results,  and  the 
little  grocers  take  hold  loyally,  too,  and 
soon  start  rolling  up  volume.  But  there 
are  innumerable  federal,  state  and  mu- 
nicipal taxes  and  regulations  to  meet. 
Every  business  transaction  must  be  "fis- 
calized,"  which  means  a  regular  snow- 
storm of  official  papers,  signed  again  and 
again  by  the  proper  authorities.  This 
business  requires  an  experienced  de- 
spachante,  or  broker,  for  no  stranger 
could  keep  track  of  it  all.  A  straight 
business  course  is  laid  out,  only  to  be 
blocked  by  some  such  regulation  as  that 
forbidding  a  woman  to  hold  shares  in  a 
corporation  in  Brazil,  and  an  indirect 
road  must  be  taken.  All  this  costs  money, 
but  the  loss  in  time  is  even  more  serious 
in  establishing  a  new  enterprise. 


ARTICLE  XXXV 

SOME  STRAIGHT  BUSINESS 
TIPS  BEARING  ON  BRAZIL 

|^IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Nov.  8.— There 
seems  to  be  an  excellent  opportunity 
in  Brazil  for  an  American  printing  plant. 
Two  weekly  newspapers  in  English  have 
recently  been  established  there,  the  Times 
of  Brazil,  in  Sao  Paulo,  British  in  man- 
agement   and    tone,    and    the    Brazilian 


American,  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  edited  by 
Americans.  When  the  latter  was  estab- 
lished its  editor  and  publisher,  Robert 
C.  Brown,  found  it  necessary  to  have 
the  typesetting  done  in  three  different 
places,  the  advertisements  set  up  at  two 
others,  the  engravings  made  in  two  dif- 
ferent shops,  and  the  printing  in  still  an- 
other. These  details  almost  called  for  a 
"despachante,"  or  customs-house  broker. 
Rio  de  Janeiro  has  only  one  linotype 
operator  who  can  read  English.  Ameri- 
can concerns  doing  business  in  Brazil 
value  printing  like  that  obtainable  at 
home  because  it  reflects  American  char- 
acter. An  enterprise  like  a  new  Ameri- 
can packing  concern,  marketing  its  spe- 
cialties in  Brazil,  would  use  $25,000  to 
$50,000  worth  of  printed  matter  yearly 
— advertisements,  labels,  receipt  slips, 
cartons  and  the  like.  Skillful  type  ar- 
rangements for  advertisers  would  become 
an  important  branch  of  such  a  printing 
office.  It  is  said  that  $100,000  would 
capitalize  an  up-to-date  American  print- 
ing concern  in  Brazil,  and  that  it  would 
have  virtually  undisputed  control  of  busi- 
ness from  American  houses,  provided  it 
were  manned  by  Americans  and  turned 
out  a  diversified  line  of  work  of  Ameri- 
can character. 

*      *      * 

"gWIVEL-CHAIR  experting"  still 
seems  to  be  a  thriving  industry  in 
New  York  city.  This  is  done  by  the  ex- 
port concern  with  most  of  its  organiza- 
tion at  home,  represented  chiefly  by  ad- 
vertising and  circulars.  One  concern, 
running  full-page  advertisements  in  New 
York  newspapers,  describing  its  connec- 
tions in  Latin  America  most  convinc- 
ingly, was  found  upon  investigation  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro  to  have  only  a  small  office 
— virtually  desk  room — and  a  single  rep- 
resentative. At  home  such  a  concern  has 
little  more  direct  connection  with  manu- 
facturers, and  should  it  secure  Latin- 
American  orders,  places  them  with  the 
manufacturer  quoting  the  lowest  price, 
and  simply  passes  the  documents  along 
without  any  attention  to  details.  There 
recently  arrived  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  a 
shipment  of  white  cotton  blankets  from 
a  New  Hampshire  mill.  Each  blanket 
was  carefully  wrapped  in  black  tar  paper 
and  put  into  a  burlap  bale,  with  the  ends 
sewed  through  burlap,  tar  paper  and 
blankets.  The  latter  were  all  discolored. 
The  Brazilian  customer  was  willing  to 
take  them  at  25  per  cent  discount,  a 
generous  offer;  but  lack  of  basis  for  di- 
rect dealing  made  this  difficult,  as  the 
transaction  was  a  four-cornered  affair 
between  the  Brazilian  buyer,  the  Rio  de 
Janeiro  bank,  the  New  York  export 
agent  and  the  New  Hampshire  manu- 
facturer. 

*      *      * 

T  ACK  of  close  teamwork  among  man- 
ufacturer, export  house  and  branch 
banks  abroad  complicates  many  world- 
trade  shipments  which  would  turn  out 


BRAZIL 


75 


happily  if  a  little  understanding  and  lee- 
way were  permitted.  The  manufacturer 
ships  the  goods,  the  exporter  passes  the 
documents  to  the  bank  abroad,  with  a 
draft  that  must  be  paid  before  the  buyer 
in  a  foreign  country  can  get  the  docu- 
ments, and  the  latter  are  necessary  before 
the  buyer  can  get  the  goods.  His  ship- 
ment may  be  damaged,  pilfered  or  not 
up  to  specifications.  The  bank  acts 
strictly  for  the  export  house  and  manu- 
facturer— it  must  collect  the  money,  that 
being  its  sole  function  under  its  instruc- 
tion. If  there  is  damage  or  loss,  the 
buyer  discovers  it  only  after  he  has  paid. 
The  other  day  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  an  im- 
porter who,  for  such  reasons,  had  grown 


canceled  orders  following  the  armistice 
last  November.  This  is  true  of  good 
houses  in  other  Latin-American  coun- 
tries. While  goods  were  scarce  during 
the  war  these  houses  placed  orders  which 
were  often  unfilled  because  of  war  re- 
strictions, shortages,  lack  of  shipping  and 
other  handicaps.  Consequently,  dupli- 
cate orders  were  placed  with  different 
concerns  in  the  United  States,  in  the 
hope  that  at  least  one  lot  might  come 
through.  After  the  armistice  many  of 
these  orders  began  to  arrive,  and  in  Bra- 
zil, with  its  inflexible  banking  system, 
money  was  not  obtainable  to  take  them 
up.  Rejections  and  cancellations  fol- 
lowed, and  many  an  importing  concern, 


pound.    When  he  got  the  actual  leather 
it  had  risen  to  $1  a  pound. 


A  MERICAN  home-making  and  fash- 
ion magazines  are  read  with  eager- 
ness in  Brazil,  and  the  people  copy  de- 
tails in  their  homes  wherever  possible. 
Brazil  has  skillful  craftsmen,  capable  of 
making  furniture,  decorating  rooms  and 
carrying  out  garden  schemes  at  a  cost 
with  which  we  could  not  compete.  That 
is,  one  of  our  bedroom  sets  might  cost 
less  if  we  could  make  a  thousand  all 
alike,  but  the  Brazilian  hand-craftsman's 
copy  beats  our  best  price  on  an  individual 
lob.     Readers  of  these  magazines  marvel 


OLD    AQUEDUCT    NOW    USED    FOR    TROLLEY    CAR  VIADUCT 


bitter  against  American  business  meth- 
ods during  the  war,  was  found  quite 
jubilant.  "For  the  first  time  in  three 
years,"  he  said,  "I  have  just  got  with 
an  American  shipment  a  letter  from  the 
manufacturer  to  the  American  bank  here 
directing  that  I  be  permitted  to  examine 
the  goods  before  taking  up  the  draft, 
with  the  option  of  declining  them  if  not 
in  good  order.  I  believe  the  Americans 
are  really  learning  how  to  export !" 


DESPONSIBLE    business    houses    in 
Brazil  find  that  their  credit  ratings 
in  the  United  States  have  suffered  depre- 
ciation  through   misunderstanding  over 


fundamentally  sound  and  a  good  cus- 
tomer, today  finds  that  its  credit  rating 
with  American  houses  is  inadequate,  and 
that  it  is  often  asked  for  cash  with  order. 
The  happiest  results  during  this  cancella- 
tion episode  followed  where  American 
manufacturers  instructed  their  Brazilian 
representatives  or  our  American  branch 
banks  to  adjust  matters  with  their  cus- 
tomers, allowing  them  the  necessary  time 
to  finance  their  purchases.  How  well 
pleased  a  customer  might  be  was  shown 
the  other  day,  when  a  Rio  de  Janeiro  im- 
porter finally  got  a  shipment  of  leather 
from  the  United  States  as  the  result  of 
skillful  adjustment.  When  he  bought 
during  the   war   he  paid    fifty   cents  a 


at  the  advertising — which  they  honestly 
call  "propaganda."  "A  whole  page  of 
propaganda  just  for  curtains!"  exclaimed 
a  Brazilian,  reading  one  of  our  home- 
making  magazines.  "No,  not  curtains; 
just  curtain  poles,"  corrected  an  Ameri- 
can, which  made  it  all  the  more  wonder- 
ful. Like  the  movies,  these  magazines 
are  creating  desire  for  American  clothes, 
furnishings  and  comforts. 

A  MERICAN  business  men  in  Brazil 
hear  rumors,  attributed  to  Wash- 
ington, that  commercial  missions  of  va- 
rious kinds  are  to  visit  Latin  America 
to    "promote   our    trade."      Having   in 


76 


BRAZIL 


mind  not  rumors, 
but  some  definite 
official  announce- 
ments about  ships 
made  by  Washing- 
ton last  summer, 
they  say.  "Give  us 
ships,  not  mission- 
aries !  Mails  are 
six  weeks  apart  and 
come  down  irregu- 
larly on  freighters. 
Goods  come  on  one 
ship  and  docu- 
ments on  another. 
Trade  cannot  be 
built  without  fast, 
regular  communi- 
cation and  trans- 
portation— give  us 
the  ships  and  we 
will  promote  the 
trade  on  the  spot." 

It  was  stated  recently  by  an  investigator 
of  east-coast  conditions  that  a  good 
American  passenger  steamship  could,  on 
the  return  trip,  book  a  thousand  passen- 
gers from  Buenos  Aires,  Montevideo 
and  Rio  de  Janeiro. 


[  IKE  the  second-hand  automobile  busi- 
ness, the  business  of  renting  type- 
writers is  virtually  unknown  in  Argen- 
tina, Brazil,  and  probably  other  Latin- 
American  countries.  Every  other  Ameri- 
can arriving  in  Buenos  Aires  and  Rio  de 
Janeiro  wants  a  rented  typewriter  in  his 
hotel  room  for  business  correspondence. 
Apart  from  the  fact  that  new  and  rebuilt 
writing  machines  are  very  scarce  in  South 
America  just  now,  typewriter  concerns 
make  no  provision  for  this,  and  so  have 
not  built  that  department  up  to  profit- 
able volume,  although  a  rebuilt  machine 
rented  by  the  week  to  a  business  man 
would  earn  $5  and  probably  $10  a  month 
and  net  25  to  50  per  cent  profit  yearly 
on  its  cost  with  good  management  and 
service. 

COME  of  the  American  medical  men 
in  Brazil  advocate  wider  publicity 
there  for  our  medical  schools.  They  say 
that  Brazilian  medical  training  is  either 
obtained  in  Paris  or  follows  French  lines. 
Under  the  French  system  much  time  is 
spent  in  listening  to  lectures,  rather  than 
in  our  practical  clinical  experience,  with 
the  student  summarizing  his  results  for 
himself,  as  a  substitute  for  lectures.  The 
French  concept  of  medicine  also  differs 
from  ours  in  that  "shotgun"  prescrip- 
tions of  a  dozen  drugs  are  often  admin- 
istered, where  the  American  doctor  gives 
one  drug  until  its  effects  are  apparent, 
and  probably  a  dozen  drugs  make  up  the 
backbone  of  his  prescribing.  It  is  also 
believed  that  our  interne  system,  giving 
practical  hospital  experience  during  their 
instruction,  both  in  treatment  and  self- 


MUNIC1PAL    THEATRE— THE  GRAND   OPERA   HOUSE  OF  RIO   DE   JANEIRO 


reliance,  has  characteristics  of  its  own 
which  would  appeal  to  Brazilians.  Com- 
prehensive descriptions  of  our  medical 
schools  and  what  they  have  to  offer,  with- 
out critical  comparisons,  backed  by  the 
distribution  of  literature,  seems  to  be  the 
kind  of  publicity  which  would  benefit 
both  the  Brazilians,  freshmen  and  post- 
graduate, and  our  medical  colleges. 


ARTICLE  XXXVI 

AMERICAN  METHODS  MAKE 
ADS  "PULL"  IN  BRAZIL 

JJIO  DE  JANEIRO,  Nov.  10.— An 
American  business  house  with  a 
branch  in  Brazil  began  advertising  in 
some  of  the  Rio  de  Janeiro  daily  papers. 
One  journal  had  been  left  off  the  list. 
Its  man  came  around  and  asked  for  that 
advertisement. 

"You  can  have  it  on  one  condition," 
said  the  advertising  manager  of  the 
American  concern.  "We  want  a  special 
position  on  this  news  page  instead  of 
having  our  announcement  buried  Brazil- 
ian fashion." 

"But  we  can't  put  an  advertisement 
on  that  page,"  objected  the  newspaper 
man.  "Other  American  houses  would 
want  to  be  placed  there  too,  and  the  page 
would  soon  be  full  of  advertising." 

"Why  not  add  another  page  to  your 
paper,  then  ?"  said  the  American. 

"Oh,  that  would  make  our  newspaper 
too  heavy!"  was  the  reply.  "People  like 
to  carry  it  home  because  it  is  light;  we 
mustn't  make  our  paper  too  heavy  to 
carry." 

Brazil  is  a  country  of  many  newspa- 
pers, and  has  been  called  "the  journal- 
ist's paradise"  on  that  account.  It  is 
hardly  an  advertising  man's  paradise, 
however,  for  paid  announcements, 
crowded  indiscriminately  onto  the  back 
pages,  are  poorly  set,  seldom  illustrated 
and  utterly  lacking  in  attractiveness.  The 


advertising  solicit- 
or is  everywhere, 
but  offers  nothing 
in  the  way  of  serv- 
ice or  ideas  in  sell- 
ing space ;  very 
often  he  is  a  free 
lance,  getting  a 
commission  o  n 
such  business  as  he 
can  find,  having 
no  actual  connec- 
tion with  the  busi- 
ness department. 
The  advertising 
agency,  as  we 
know  it,  is  vir- 
tually nonexistent, 
lacking  even  a  list 
of  mediums  and 
rates.  The  fixing 
of  advertising  rates 
is  yet  to  come,  so 
that  even  a  limited  campaign  in  the  news- 
papers involves  dickering  with  each  pub- 
lisher. 

Many  of  the  Brazilian  newspapers, 
particularly  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  have  been 
partly  supported  by  government  subsi- 
dies for  political  services.  These  subsi- 
dies are  paid  by  state  governments  as  well 
as  the  federal  administration,  not  neces- 
sarily with  ulterior  motives,  but  often 
by  way  of  community  and  national  prop- 
aganda. It  is  said,  as  an  illustration,  that 
the  enterprising  state  of  Sao  Paulo  lib- 
erally backs  one  of  the  Rio  de  Janeiro 
dailies  so  that  it  may  always  be  well 
represented  in  the  national  capital.  The 
word  "propaganda"  is  a  synonym  for  ad- 
vertising in  Brazil  as  well  as  through- 
out Spanish  America. 

MORE  DAILY  PAPERS  THAN  N.  Y. 

T3UT  Brazil  has  now  begun  to  build  an 
advertising  industry. 

One  of  President  Pessoa's  first  steps  in 
government  economy  was  the  cutting  off 
of  federal  newspaper  subsidies.  This  has 
forced  publishers  to  seek  new  sources  of 
revenue.  They  are  now  beginning  to 
develop  advertising  service,  as  well  as 
to  increase  their  circulation  by  improve- 
ments in  the  gathering  and  arrangement 
of  news.  Brazilian  newspapers  have  for 
years  been  most  enterprising  in  securing 
cable  news  from  the  whole  world,  but  it 
has  been  printed  by  countries,  without 
regard  for  easy  reading.  Four  separate 
items  about  President  Wilson's  health 
will  be  scattered  through  the  coffee  quo- 
tations from  the  United  States,  where  an 
American  newspaperman  would  bring 
them  together,  expand  them  into  a  "fea- 
ture story,"  and  play  it  up  with  interest- 
ing headlines. 

Rio  de  Janeiro,  with  1,250,000  popu- 
lation, has  fully  twice  as  many  daily 
papers  as  New  York  city,  but  circulations 
are  small.  The  largest  is  an  evening 
paper  printing  60,000  copies,  while  the 


BRAZIL 


77 


average  for  other  popular  journals  is 
from  30,000  to  35,000  copies."  The  best- 
known  Rio  de  Janeiro  daily,  internation- 
ally a  journal  comparable  with  the  Lon- 
don Times  for  its  comprehensiveness,  is 
credited  with  only  12,000  circulation. 
Some  of  the  smaller  publications  frankly 
live  on  what  we  would  call  blackmail, 
like  the  horde  of  obscure  journals  in  our 
Wall  street  district — their  editors  call 
upon  business  houses  and  prominent  citi- 
zens with  proofs  of  articles  that  the  lat- 
ter will  pay  to  have  kept  out  of  print. 
Slenderness  of  circulation  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  Brazilian  dailies  have  no  na- 
tional circulation,  each  city  reading  its 
own  journals.  The  leading  newspaper  in 
the  city  of  Sao  Paulo  is  credited  with  a 
circulation  as  large,  if  not  larger,  than 
the  most  widely  circulated  daily  in  Rio 
de  Janeiro. 

American  business  men  in  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro have  begun  active  teamwork  with 
newspaper  publishers  to  improve  adver- 
tising and  demonstrate  how  it  can  pro- 
duce revenue  when  backed  by  service. 

SPORTS  PAGE  BROUGHT  READERS 

FOR  example,  one  of  the  leading  morn- 
ing papers  recently  started  the  first 
automobile  page  ever  published  in  Brazil, 
and  perhaps  on  the  southern  continent. 
This  particular  publisher  has  been  thor- 
oughly enterprising  since  the  Americans 
came.  Taking  a  comprehensive  cable 
news  service  from  the  United  States,  he 
played  the  dispatches  up  on  his  first  page 
and  got  all  the  Americans  reading  his 
paper.  Then  he  took  pains  to  place 
American  advertisements  in  good  posi- 
tions on  his  news  pages.  On  top  of  that 
he'  started  a  sporting  page,  which  was 
very  successful  from  a  circulation  stand- 
point, because  most  of  the  sporting  events 
in  Rio  de  Janeiro  occur  on  Sunday,  and 
the  Monday  morning  sporting  news  made 
circulation  the  best  in  the  week. 

One  day  an  American  automobile  tire 
man  showed  this  publisher  the  automo- 


bile section  published  weekly  by  an  Amer- 
ican newspaper.  With  sixteen  pages  of 
automobile  articles  and  advertising,  it 
was  bigger  than  the  Brazilian's  whole 
journal.  He  explained  that  Brazil, 
larger  than  the  United  States,  has  only 
8000  automobiles,  of  which  7000  are  old 
European  cars,  as  against  3,500,000  au- 
tomobiles in  the  United  States.  Behind 
the  automobile  in  the  United  States  is 
the  automobile  "fan."  Americans  know 
cars,  drive  them,  repair  them,  ask  ques- 
tions about  them.  Our  automobile  fans 
are  organized  in  clubs,  and  their  organi- 
zations and  interest  have  been  a  big 
stimulus  for  good  roads.  Much  of  our 
automobile  public  opinion  has  been  cre- 
ated by  the  automobile  departments  in 
our  daily  papers,  spreading  motor  infor- 
mation. Brazil  needs  automobile  "fans" 
to  get  the  motor  transport  and  highways 
necessary  to  develop  her. 

The  Brazilian  publisher  saw  the  point 
at  once.  The  first  good  roads  conven- 
tion ever  held  in  Brazil  was  to  be  called 
together  shortly.  He  made  that  the  oc- 
casion for  starting  a  weekly  automobile 
page.  The  American  automobile  and 
tire  men  helped  him  by  writing  articles, 
furnishing  pictures  and  undertaking  to 
supply  technical  information  for  a  "ques- 
tion box"  on  Yankee  lines,  which  would 
tell  any  inquirer  how  to  adjust  a  carbure- 
tor, get  mileage  out  of  his  tires  or  grind 
valves.  Having  seen  the  same  ideas 
worked  out  successfully  at  home,  and 
having  estimated  Brazil's  potential  mar- 
ket for  automobiles  at  100,000  cars,  the 
Americans  simply  laid  a  broad  foundation 
for  popular  interest,  and  Brazilian  intelli- 
gence backed  them. 


ADVERTISING  AGENCY  NEEDED 

ZITHER  American  concerns  have  dem- 
onstrated that  advertising  pulls  in 
Brazil  when  newspaper  space  is  used  in- 
telligently. A  second  instance  is  the  ad- 
vertising of  an  American  branch  bank  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro.  It  has  been  made  a  rule 
that  all  announcements  must  have  good 
position,  and  also  definitely  suggests 
something  for  the  public  to  do,  such  as 
open  a  commercial  or  savings  account. 
The  idea  of  thrift  is  also  new  in  Brazil, 
but  a  quiet  campaign  advertising  the 
savings  department  is  bringing  this  bank 
hundreds  of  new  savings  accounts. 

In  the  absence  of  a  good  advertising 
agency  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  the  placing  of 
consumer  publicity  by  American  houses 
with  distribution  in  Brazil  is  rather  diffi- 
cult. The  best  results  have  been  secured 
by  American  concerns  with  their  own 
representatives  on  the  spot,  giving  per- 
sonal attention  to  the  selection  of  me- 
dium, the  translation  of  copy,  position, 
rates  and  other  details.  Several  adver- 
tising agencies  at  home  have  made  con- 
tracts with  Brazilian  newspapers,  con- 
templating the  placing  of  American  pub- 
licity from  New  York  or  Chicago.  Simi- 
lar contracts  have  also  been  made  with 
Argentine  advertising  agencies  in  Buenos 
Aires.  So  far  as  can  be  learned,  how- 
ever, little  advertising  has  been  placed 
by  this  method.  London  advertising 
agencies  have  for  years  specialized  in 
world  advertising  service,  and  the  chief 
directories  of  the  world's  newspapers  and 
periodicals  are  published  there.  Brazil- 
ian publishers  allow  a  commission  on 
advertising,  so  the  basis  exists  for  build- 
ing up  a  modern  agency  here. 

When  it  comes  to  concrete  advertising 
appeals  those  familiar  at  home  are  gener- 
ally effective  with  the  Brazilians.  In 
fact,  well-to-do  Brazilians  who  read  Eng- 
lish pay  fifty  cents  to  $1  for  our  maga- 
zines, especially  those  with  plenty  of 
advertising  for  clothes  and  home  furnish- 


J'AXOHAMIC    VIEW    OF    SANTOS.    A    COMMERCIAL  CENTER  OF  DRAZIL 


78 


BRAZIL 


ings,  and  find  the  advertisements  much 
more  interesting  than  the  reading  mat- 
ter. 

"MADE-IN-BRAZIL"   EFFECTIVE 

HpHE  Brazilian,  first  of  all,  is  patriotic 
A  — proud  of  his  country  and  citizen- 
ship, proud  of  her  new  manufacturing 
industries,  and  eager  that  Brazil  shall 
have  the  best  regardless  of  cost.  This 
makes  it  advantageous  to  emphasize  goods 
made  in  Brazil  itself,  or  assembled  there, 
or  made  from  Brazilian  raw  materials. 
It  also  justifies  the  quality  appeal  on 
countless  things  bought  for  the  commu- 
nity, such  as  railroad  equipment,  mate- 
rials and  supplies  for  public  buildings. 

Then  the  Brazilian  is  a  family  man 
in  the  Latin  sense,  with  deep  pride  in 
his  home  and  a  keen  interest  in  anything 
that  will  improve  or  adorn  it.  He  does 
not  always  understand  comfort,  conveni- 
ence, time  saving  or  labor  saving  as  do 
Americans,  but,  like  all  our  cousins  on 
the  southern  continent,  these  characteris- 
tics invariably  impress  him  when  he  visits 
the  United  States,  and  because  he  is 
quick  to  appreciate  them  when  practically 
demonstrated,  that  appeal  is  capable  of 
development. 

Brazilians  value  personal  appearance. 
Probably  they  are  not  as  "snappy"  as  the 
Argentinos  in  dress,  but  neither  are  they 
so  conservative  in  the  matter  of  wearing 
colors.  French  fashions  prevail  in 
women's  clothes,  and  the  men  look  more 
to  Europe  for  dress  standards  than  to 
the  United  States.  There  is  an  element 
of  daintiness  about  masculine  togs,  in 
marked  contrast  to  the  athletic  note  in 
our  men's  wear.  Well-to-do  Brazilians 
probably  pay  as  much  for  their  clothes  as 
any  people  in  the  world,  but,  in  contrast, 
the  very  cheapest  grades  are  purchased 
by  the  mass  of  the  people. 

Brazilians  are  ambitious,  and  would 
unquestionably  respond  to  the  familiar 
American  appeal  of  "Learn  More  and 
Earn  More."  There  is  a  marked  inter- 
est in  technical  education  and  practical 
things — where  Brazilian  students  five 
years  ago  learned  French  and  studied  law 
or  the  classics,  they  now  learn  English, 
to  profit  by  American  technical  books  and 
educational  facilities. 


ARTICLE  XXXVII 

EUROPE  LOSES  AIRCRAFT 
FIELD  TO  U.  S.  MACHINES 

DIO  DE  JANEIRO,  Nov.  12.— Al- 
most  with  the  striking  of  the 
eleventh  hour  on  the  western  front,  the 
flying  men  set  out  for  South  America. 
European  governments  packed  up  war 
machines,  selected  crack  military  avia- 
tors, backed  them  officially  and  finan- 
cially, and  sought  South  America's  trade 
through  "air  missions." 

The   reason    for   this   promptitude    is 
clear  enough.     At  least  half  the  Latin- 


American  republics  have  armies,  and  are 
good  prospects  for  military  machines, 
while  hydroplanes  and  flying  boats  offer 
them  the  most  feasible  way  of  protecting 
their  long  coast  lines,  supplementing  their 
navies.  And  the  great  distances  of  the 
southern  continent,  with  limited  develop- 
ment of  railroads  and  the  long  trips  by 
coast  steamer,  make  ample  opportunity 
for  airplanes  to  carry  mail,  passengers 
and  express  matter. 

For  six  or  eight  months  Latin-Ameri- 
can eyes  were  in  the  air.  "Raids"  were 
conducted  from  one  city  to  another, 
neighboring  countries  peacefully  invaded 
by  way  of  demonstration,  and  the  Andes 
flown. 

During  that  period  nothing  was  heard 
of  the  Americans.  Everywhere  the  Brit- 
ish, the  Italians  and  the  French  were 
breaking  records  and  annihilating  dis- 
tances, or  getting  ready  to  do  so,  and 
the  government  air  missions  on  the  spot 
were  only  evidence  of  greater  things  to 
come,  it  was  said.  On  the  steamer  that 
took  the  writer  to  Buenos  Aires  in  July 
was  a  lone  American  aviator,  represent- 
ing one  of  our  aircraft  companies.  He 
landed  in  Argentina  without  even  a  dem- 
onstration machine  and  found  that  the 
European  governments  were  giving  air- 
craft away  for  nothing — a  pretty  blue 
outlook  for  a  man  who  was  expected  to 
sell  them! 

EUROPEANS  PREPARED  FIELD 

UT  in  three  months  the  whole  situa- 
tion changed  almost  magically.  The 
last  European  aviator  went  home,  leaving 
Latin  America  virtually  an  open  field  for 
the  Yankee  aircraft  salesman.  The  lat- 
ter arrived  with  machines  and  began  go- 
ing after  the  business  on  solid  commer- 
cial lines,  which  seemed  decidedly  better 
than  the  government  air  mission, 
although  all  credit  must  be  given  the 
latter  for  their  pioneer  work  in  arousing 
interest.  It  is  obvious  that  this  pioneer 
work  laid  foundations  for  commercial 
enterprise  later. 

Our  delay  was  due  to  preparations  for 
entering  Latin  America  right,  with  suit- 
able machines  and  a  permanent  business 
policy,  according  to  C.  H.  Webster,  sales 
supervisor  in  South  America  for  the  Cur- 
tiss  Aeroplane  and  Motor  Corporation. 
This  is  the  first  American  aircraft  con- 
cern to  set  up  shop  on  the  southern  con- 


B 


tinent.  Before  the  war  ended  this  com- 
pany was  studying  Latin  America  and 
designing  machines  to  meet  its  needs. 
While  European  governments  were 
spending  money  for  "stunt"  flying,  with 
machines  left  over  from  the  war,  Glenn 
Curtiss  was  getting  new  machines  into 
production,  and  John  Willys  was  back- 
ing him  up  with  the  American  automo- 
bile man's  vision  and  policy.  When  Eu- 
rope began  to  think  about  getting  back  to 
work  to  make  commercial  aircraft 
adapted  to  Latin-American  needs  the 
Curtiss  company  was  ready  with  actual 
machines. 

Most  of  the  aircraft  given  to  Latin- 
American  governments  by  the  European 
air  missions  are  useless  even  for  military 
purposes,  much  less  commercial  flying. 
Chiefly  bombing  and  combat  planes,  they 
are  too  big  and  heavy,  or  consume  too 
much  fuel,  or  cannot  be  kept  in  service 
economically.  In  many  cases,  it  is  said, 
they  have  not  been  unpacked. 

GASOLINE  $1  A  GALLON 

AX7TIAT  Latin  America  needs  are  small 
airplanes  and  flying  boats  for  train- 
ing both  military  and  civilian  aviators 
and  for  individual  use  in  pleasure  flying 
and  air  travel,  with  larger  machines  for 
mail  and  passenger  use.  Fuel  consump- 
tion must  be  moderate,  because  gasoline 
costs  seventy-five  cents  to  $1  a  gallon. 
When  the  Latin  Americans  tried  some 
of  the  war  planes  left  by  the  European 
air  missions  they  found  that  their  flying 
school  gasoline  supply  for  a  month  disap- 
peared in  a  few  hours.  Neither  the  great 
horsepower  nor  high  speed  of  the  war 
planes  is  needed,  and  against  the  highly 
sensitive  combat  motor,  built  for  a  short 
life  of  superperformance,  with  costly 
maintenance,  commercial  flying  calls  for 
a  sturdy,  long-lived  motor  that  will  stand 
up  under  a  reasonable  amount  of  neg- 
lect. 

The  Curtiss  company  has  one  machine, 
put  into  production  since  the  armistice, 
which  has  been  found  highly  suitable  to 
Latin-American  conditions.  Built  both 
for  land  use  and  as  a  flying  boat,  this  type 
has  150  horsepower,  and  will  do  100 
miles  an  hour  as  a  land  machine  or 
eighty-five  miles  rigged  as  a  flying  boat. 
Birds'  names  have  been  adopted  for  the 
commercial  machines  instead  of  the  mys- 
tic letters  and  figures  thus  far  associated 
with  aircraft.  This  machine  in  its  fly- 
ing boat  form  is  known  as  the  "Sea 
Gull"  and  the  land  type  is  called  the 
"Oriole."  Another  plane  large  enough 
to  carry  eight  passengers,  having  three 
motors,  is  called  the  "Eagle,"  and  a  fight- 
ing plane  for  military  use  with  speed  ex- 
ceeding 160  miles  an  hour  is  known  as 
the  "Wasp."  The  idea  is  emphasized 
by  painting  the  different  machines  in 
characteristic  colors,  the  "Oriole"  being 
finished  in  orange  and  black,  and  the 
"Eagle"  having  a  feather  pattern  on  its 
wings  and  talons  on  the  landing  gear. 


BRAZIL 


79 


Such  machines  are  not  only  better 
suited  to  Latin  America's  needs  than  any- 
thing yet  produced  commercially  in  Eu- 
rope, but  have  certain  refinements  in 
design  characteristically  American.  One 
example  is  the  "V"  shape  of  the  flying 
boat,  and  also  our  hydroplane  pontoons, 
which  give  minimum  drag  in  rising  from 
the  water.  European  machines  left  in 
Latin  America  usually  show  clumsy  de- 
sign and  very  often  weak  construction  in 
boat  and  pontoon  details. 

CURTISS  OPENING  TERRITORY 

HpHE  first  object  Mr.  Webster  has  in 
mind  now  is  to  get  the  Latin-Ameri- 
can people  flying.  Taken  into  the  air 
themselves,  instead  of  watching  spectac- 
ular stunts  from  the  ground,  they  see 
that  it  is  safe  and  as  easy  as  driving  an 
automobile.  Each  passenger  who  is  given 
a  demonstration  becomes  a  friend  of  fly- 
ing, ready  to  coun- 
teract apprehension 
in  others.  Perma- 
nent bases  have 
been  established  by 
the  Curtiss  com- 
pany in  Brazil  and 
Argentina  and 
others  will  be  es- 
tablished in  neigh- 
boring countries. 
Flights  are  made 
from  these  bases 
daily  in  both  land 
and  water  ma- 
chines, and  the 
machines  invaria- 
bly carry  passen- 
g  e  r  s,  invited  as 
guests. 

Not  five  per 
cent  of  the  people 
in  Latin  America 
have  ever  seen  an 
airplane,  and  so 
the  Curtiss  avia- 
tors are  invading 
the  interior  regions 
tions  of  war  flying 
passengers.  As  large  a  city  as  Sao  Paulo, 
Brazil,  with  its  half  million  population" 
had  never  seen  an  airplane  until  Curtiss 
aviators  gave  it  a  show  in  October,  with 
all  the  loops,  spins  and  falls  the  Paulis- 
tas  have  been  reading  about  in  the  war 
news.  Sao  Paulo  simply  went  wild  with 
excitement  and  delight. 

The  first  steps  in  developing  commer- 
cial flying  on  the  southern  continent  will 
be  the  establishment  of  mail  service  along 
the  coasts.  Arrangements  have  already 
been  made  for  a  Curtiss  service  from 
Bahia  to  Santos,  a  1000-mile  route  which 
now  requires  nearly  a  week  for  mail,  and 
which  can  be  covered  practically  over- 
night by  airplanes.  This  will  later  be 
extended  to  Para  on  the  north  and  Rio 
Grande  do  Sul  on  the  south  and  supple- 
mented with  passenger  service.    Another 


region  of  Brazil  scheduled  for  early  de- 
velopment is  the  Amazon,  from  Para  to 
Manaos,  now  requiring  nearly  a  week 
by  river  steamer.  Similar  developments 
are  being  planned  from  Buenos  Aires, 
along  the  coast  north  and  south  and  up 
the  La  Plata  and  Parana  rivers. 

DEVELOPING  MILITARY   AVIATION 

HPHE  outlook  for  private  flying  is  excel- 
lent all  over  South  America.  Ar- 
gentina, for  instance,  is  a  vast  flying  field 
with  its  great  plains,  and  many  an  estan- 
cia  owner  might  travel  to  and  from  Bue- 
nos Aires  in  a  ninety-horsepower  plane 
capable  of  seventy-five  miles  an  hour,  de- 
signed for  landing  in  spaces  as  small  as  a 
football  field.  In  other  countries  such 
planes  would  take  people  up  to  mines, 
and  might  even  be  used  to  haul  out  valu- 
able ore  concentrates,  covering  directly 
in  an  hour  distances  which  now  require 


struction  and  other  essentials.  In  mail 
and  passenger  service  there  is  also  room 
for  costly  blundering.  As  an  illustration, 
the  postmaster  general  of  one  of  the 
smaller  republics  recently  visited  the 
United  States  to  contract  for  air  service 
between  the  coast  and  the  capital  of  his 
country.  With  practically  no  experience 
in  aviation,  he  selected  planes  of  a  mili- 
tary type  entirely  unsuited  for  mail  serv- 
ice, and  the  aerial  post  in  that  country 
will  unquestionably  have  to  go  through  a 
period  of  failure  before  it  is  made  suc- 
cessful. 


R 


SCENE    OP   THE    BRAZILIAN    RAILROAD    BETWEEN    CURITIBA    AND    PARANGUA 


giving   demonstra- 
and  then  taking  up 


one  to  three  weeks  of  winding,  climbing 
burro  transportation. 

There  is  also  the  field  of  army  and 
navy  flying,  in  which  the  Curtiss  com- 
pany has  made  a  beginning  with  a  con- 
tract from  the  Bolivian  Government, 
having  machines  and  an  instructor  work- 
ing with  the  Bolivian  army. 

Most  of  the  Latin-American  countries 
have  experienced  aviators  back  from  the 
western  front,  where  they  volunteered  for 
service  with  the  French,  British  or  Ital- 
ians. Mr.  Webster  believes  it  highly  im- 
portant that  the  experience  of  these  prac- 
tical airmen  be  utilized  in  developing  mil- 
itary aviation.  Realizing  the  value  of 
military  aviation,  the  governments  are 
beginning  to  develop  it  liberally  and  ea- 
gerly ;  but  frequently  they  organize  a  fly- 
ing service  without  utilizing  their  re- 
turned veterans,  and  errors  are  made  in 
the  selection  of  planes,  methods  of  in- 


ARTICLE  XXXVIII 

BRAZIL'S  30-YEAR  STEEL 
NEED  IS  $3,500,000,000 

IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Nov.  15.— A 
Brazilian  cabinet  minister  sat  down 
recently  and  carefully  drew  up  the  iron 
and  steel  bill  of  his 
country  for  the 
next  generation — 
Dr.  Cincinnato 
Braga,  minister  of 
agriculture,  indus- 
try and  commerce. 
It  was  interest- 
ing in  two  ways: 
First,  from  the 
standpoint  of  sell- 
ing steel  from  the 
United  States  and 
other  countries ; 
second,  from  that 
of  providing 
Brazil  with  an 
iron  and  steel  in- 
dustry of  her  own. 
Among  all  the 
Latin  -  American 
countries  Brazil 
has  the  best  pros- 
pect for  establish- 
ing her  own  steel 
industry,  and  has 
shown  the  greatest 
interest  in  the  subject  and  gone  farthest 
toward  realizing  her  ambition. 

Her  requirements  for  the  next  thirty 
vears  are  estimated  bv  Doctor  Braga  at 
60,000,000  tons.  That  is,  2,000,000 
tons  a  year,  or  four  times  our  own  total 
rail  export  of  steel  before  the  war.  At 
upward  of  $60  a  ton  estimated  cost  it  is 
a  tidy  little  order  of  $3,500,000,000. 

Right  now  it  can .  be  figured  by  the 
steel  salesman,  unaided,  in  terms  of  ton- 
nage and  price.  But  tomorrow  the  capi- 
talist and  technical  man  will  be  called 
to  Brazil  to  see  if  the  stuff  cannot  be 
made  on  the  spot.  For  if  it  can,  then 
Brazil's  growth  should  be  greatly  stimu- 
lated, along  with  that  of  neighboring 
Latin-American  republics,  which  would 
become  customers  for  her  steel  imhrstry. 
Without  Bessemer  and  his  converter, 
the  United  States  would  have  had  no 
Hills  or  Harrimans,  no  Pittsburghs  or 


80 


BRAZIL 


Detroits.  It  may  well  be  that  some  gen- 
ius of  the  same  caliber  will,  during  the 
next  decade,  through  some  technical  im- 
provement in  metallurgy,  turn  Brazil's 
mountains  of  iron  ore  into  the  steel  rails, 
locomotives,  bridges,  barbed  wire  and 
machinery  that  she  needs  for  growth. 

NEEDS  150,000  MILES  OF  RAILS 

DRAZIL  has  today  25,000  miles  of  rail- 
road. Doctor  Braga  points  out  that 
it  has  taken  her  seventy  years  to  build 
them,  chiefly  because  all  iron  and  steel 
have  been  imported.  She  will  need  from 
150,000  to  200,000  miles  of  railroad  for 
growth  the  coming  generation,  repre- 
senting a  steel  bill  of  30,000,000  tons. 
Because  peace  finds  her  railroads  and 
rolling  stock  in  lamentable  condition, 
500,000  tons  are  needed  for  immediate 
repairs  and  growth.  Other  items  during 
the  coining  generation  are  river  and  ocean 
steamships,  500,000  tons;  steel  bridges, 
500,000  tons;  barbed  wire  and  farm 
equipment,  1,000,000  tons;  national  de- 
fense, 1,000,000  tons,  with  steel  and 
iron  beyond  detailed  estimate  for  city 
construction,  public  utilities,  the  develop- 
ment of  hydro-electric  power,  roads,  san- 
itation and  the  development  of  Brazilian 
manufacturing  industry  and  motor  trans- 
portation. 

Iron  is  found  in  every  state  in  Brazil, 
ranging  from  small  deposits  and  ore  so 
mixed  with  other  metal  that  it  would  be 
difficult  to  work,  up  to  billion-ton  masses 
of  workable  ore  averaging  50  to  60  per 
cent  pure  iron.  Every  Brazilian  who 
writes  on  the  subject  boosts  the  Brazilian 
iron  deposits  as  the  greatest  and  purest 
in  the  world. 

But,  of  course,  the  value  of  any  iron 
ore  deposit  depends  entirely  upon  what 
you  can  do  with  it  technically  as  well  as 
commercially. 

The  big  shortcoming  so  far,  apart 
from  the  fact  that  Brazil  is  still  a  very 
young  country  in  point  of  development, 
has  been  lack  of  fuel  to  work  the  ore. 
Good  coking  coal  for  iron  smelting  prob- 
ably exists  in  Brazil,  but  so  far  only  a 
few  deposits  of  low-grade  coal  have  been 
found  and  worked,  and  they  are  inade- 
quate both  in  quality  and  quantity. 
Pending  the  time  when  suitable  coal  is 
available,  the  Brazilians  propose  to  make 
iron  and  steel  by  two  other  processes,  the 
oldest  and  the  newest  in  the  world — 
charcoal  and  water-power  electricity. 

EUCALYPTUS  FOR  CHARCOAL 

r^HARCOAL  has  not  only  been  the 
fuel  for  infant  iron  industries  every- 
where, the  Brazilians  remind  themselves, 
but  makes  an  exceptionally  pure  article. 
And  that  it  can  be  built  up  to  respecta- 
ble tonnage  is  shown  by  the  production 
of  400,000  tons  of  charcoal  pig  iron  in 
Michigan  today  despite  the  competition 
of  Pittsburgh,  and  also  in  Sweden's  pro- 
duction of  1,000,000  tons  yearly  in  times 


past  through  systematic  forestry  to  main- 
tain the  charcoal  supply.  Brazil's  for- 
ests have  been  pretty  well  depleted  near 
the  railroads,  but  the  planting  of  eucalyp- 
tus trees  is  suggested,  making  charcoal 
from  the  five-year  growths.  A  British 
iron  company  that  planned  extensive  op- 
erations in  Brazil  before  the  war  has 
already  planted  a  big  tract  of  eucalyptus 
for  charcoal.  It  is  estimated  that  fifty 
trees  will  yield  enough  charcoal  to  smelt 
a  ton  of  iron,  and  that  a  beginning  might 
be  made  by  setting  up  small  furnaces  in 
the  midst  of  newly  planted  forests  over 
the  iron  areas.  These  sections  happen 
to  be  rich  in  water  power,  and  that  might 
be  utilized  for  turning  charcoal  pig  iron 
into  steel,  and  the  latter  into  finished 
rails,  bars,  structural  shapes,  machinery 
and  so  forth. 

Of  course,  there  is  the  little  item  of 
cost — very  much  loaded  !  Hydro-elec- 
tric installations  are  not  exactly  cheap 
these  days,  and  the  electric  furnace  is 
practical  chiefly  for  fancy  steels  in  mod- 
erate tonnage.  Whether  Brazil  can  even 
make  charcoal  iron  in  competition  with 
the  marvelously  efficient  industries  in 
the  United  States,  Great  Britain,  Ger- 
many, France  and  Belgium,  with  a 
thundering  protective  tariff,  must  be  dem- 
onstrated. 

The  Brazilians,  however,  have  already 
taken  steps  to  try  the  thing  out. 

Under  a  presidential  decree  in  1918, 
they  offer  government  aid  to  anybody 
setting  up  in  the  iron  or  steel  business  in 
their  republic.  If  a  plant  has  a  daily 
output  of  twenty  tons  or  more,  making 
iron  or  steel  with  charcoal,  coke,  elec- 
tricity or  other  fuel,  the  government  will, 
until  March,  1921,  lend  money  up  to 
the  full  amount  of  the  cost  of  installa- 
tion, taking  a  mortgage  on  the  plant.  To 
secure  this  aid  full  details  of  plant  and 
process  must  be  submitted  to  the  govern- 
ment, which  will  continue  to  audit  trans- 
actions during  the  life  of  the  mortgage. 
A  certain  number  of  Brazilian  appren- 
tices, named  by  the  government,  must 
also  be  employed.  The  money  is  lent 
for  twelve  years  at  5  per  cent  interest. 
The  government  agrees  to  buy  its  own 
iron  and  steel  from  these  plants  at  the 
price  of  imported  iron  and  steel  plus 
tariff   duties.      It  also    agrees   to   build 


small  branch  railways  to  supply  plants 
with  ore  and  fuel,  and  arrange  favor- 
able railroad  and  steamship  rates  upon 
imported  apparatus  and  upon  steel  prod- 
ucts sold  in  Brazil  and  neighboring 
countries.  However,  not  more  than 
$1,300,000  will  be  loaned  to  any  single 
plant. 

This  government  aid  also  extends  to 
Brazilian  coal  mining,  any  enterprise 
producing  150  tons  of  coal  daily  being 
loaned  one-half  its  investment  in  equip- 
ment and  mineral  land  on  the  same 
terms,  with  a  limit  of  $520,000. 

Under  this  plan  it  is  estimated  that  an 
expenditure  of  $40,000,000  to  $50,000,- 
000  during  the  next  seven  years  will  es- 
tablish an  iron  and  steel  industry,  save 
at  least  30  per  cent  over  the  cost  of  im- 
ported steel,  and  greatly  advance  the 
development  of  the  country.  Naturally, 
different  authorities  take  different  views 
of  that.  On  one  hand,  Brazil  has  made 
astonishing  industrial  advances  along 
other  lines  during  the  last  five  years.  But 
it  will  unquestionably  take  years  of  high 
protection  to  put  her  textiles,  shoes, 
clothing  and  other  products  on  a  par 
with  those  of  advanced  industrial  coun- 
tries, both  in  price  and  quality,  and  the 
same  is  probably  true  of  Brazilian  iron 
and  steel. 

FIELD  FOR  STEEL  SALESMEN 

D  EGARDLESS  of  the  future,  whether 
it  brings  success  or  failure,  there  is 
going  to  be  some  good  steel  business  for 
the  salesman  in  Brazil. 

It  will  take  five  to  ten  years  for  gov- 
ernment-aided plants  to  build  up  im- 
portant tonnage  even  if  they  are  success- 
ful. So  far  virtually  no  advantage  has 
been  taken  of  the  government's  offer  on 
iron  and  steel.  This  may  be  due  more 
to  the  world's  general  delay  in  getting 
back  to  work,  however,  and  that  there 
are  possibilities  in  the  situation  is  shown 
by  the  British  project  for  a  $10,000,000 
iron  development  in  Brazil  before  the 
war,  undertaken  without  government 
aid.  To  be  sure,  this  syndicate  planned 
chiefly  the  mining  of  iron  ore  and  its 
shipment  to  England,  taking  advantage 
of  the  large  tonnage  formerly  employed 
in  carrying  British  coal  to  Brazil  and 
Argentina,  which  might  make  it  feasible 
for  England  to  work  Brazilian  ore.  This 
company  apparently  saw  possibilities  in 
charcoal  iron,  even  without  high  protec- 
tion, when  it  planted  its  forest  of  2,000,- 
000  eucalyptus  trees. 

Brazilian  iron  and  steel  are  probabili- 
ties of  tomorrow.  Brazil's  need  for  im- 
ported steel  is  an  actuality  of  today.  Her 
importations  during  the  last  year  of 
peace  were  575,000  tons,  while  her  im- 
ports the  last  year  of  war  were  less  than 
one-tenth  that  amount,  45,000  tons. 
Germany  led  in  tonnage  in  1913,  150,- 


BRAZIL 


81 


000  tons,  France  came  second  with  120,- 
000  tons,  Great  Britain  next  with  105,- 
000  tons  and  the  United  States  fourth, 
90,000  tons.  During  1918  we  sold  nearly 
all  the  iron  and  steel  Brazil  imported, 
36,000  tons,  though  Great  Britain  man- 
aged to  supply  nearly  3000  tons  even  in 
war  times. 

Like  every  other  country  in  the  world, 
Brazil  is  out  at  the  elbows  for  iron  and 
steel.  Her  industries  must  be  reclothed. 
Part  of  that  $3,500,000,000  order  may 
eventually  go  to  the  promoter  and  engi- 
neer, but  there  is  a  generous  slice  of  it 
cut  for  the  American  steel  salesman  right 
now. 


course,  it  cost  decidedly  more  than 
freight,  but  in  this  case  was  well  worth 
the  money.  It  is  not  generally  known 
that  American  express  service  is  avail- 
able in  Latin  America.  In  1916  the 
American  Express  Co.  found  such  a  de- 
mand for  service  on  the  southern  conti- 
nent as  a  result  of  the  war  that  branches 
were  established  in  Argentina,  Brazil 
and  other  countries.  The  Brazilian 
branch  is  representative.  A  Brazilian 
corporation  called  "Companhia  Expresso 
Federal,"  capitalized  in  the  United 
States,  will  quote  through  rates  on  mer- 
chandise shipments  from  the  United 
States  to  any  part  of  Brazil,  including 


TARIFF  ON  COLOR  PRINTS 

ADVERTISING  matter  shipped  into 
Brazil  is  subject  to  a  complicated 
schedule  of  tariff  duties.  Probably  on 
no  other  detail  do  Americans  have  so 
much  trouble,  either  when  catalogues  or 
printed  literature  are  sent  in  quantities 
to  their  Brazilian  representatives  or 
salesmen  bring  advertising  material  with 
them.  To  begin  with,  the  Brazilian  cus- 
toms house  is  supposed,  under  the  law. 
to  charge  about  three  and  one-half  cents 
a  pound  on  all  advertising  matter.  Ac- 
tually, through  numerous  rulings,  duties 
are  assessed  according  to  the  number  of 
colors  in  the  printing.    This  basic  rate  of 


GUAYRA    PALLS    ON    THE    ALTO    PARANA    RIVER.    WHERE    HYDROELECTRIC    POWER    DEVELOPMENT    IS    UNDER    CONSIDERATION 


ARTICLE  XXXIX 

FOUR  FREE  TRADING  PORTS 
CONTEMPLATED  BY  BRAZIL 

RIO  DE  JANEIRO,  Nov.  17.— An 
American  automobile  man  came 
down  to  Buenos  Aires  accompanied  by  a 
sample  car.  Within  twenty-four  hours 
this  car  had  passed  through  customs  and 
was  being  driven  to  a  prospective  repre- 
sentative's door — something  said  to  be 
quite  without  precedent  for  speed  in 
Argentine  customs  routine.  It  was  done 
by  shipping  the  car  through  an  Ameri- 
can express  company,  at  express  rates, 
and  the  Buenos  Aires  branch  of  this 
company    attended    to    all    details.      Of 


customs  routine,  the  payment  of  duty  for 
the  shipper's  account  or  its  collection 
from  the  consignee,  cartage  and  railroad 
charges  in  Brazil  and  all  other  items. 
As  the  calculation  of  Brazilian  customs 
duties  resembles  one  of  our  income  tax 
statements,  this  is  a  decided  convenience 
for  American  shippers  without  Brazilian 
connections.  Special  customs  service  is 
given  on  parcel  post  shipments — for  sam- 
ples and  shipments  of  small  value  both 
time  and  money  can  be  saved  by  using 
parcel  post.  Our  express  organization 
in  Latin  America  also  has  facilities  for 
furnishing  lists  of  merchants  in  any  line, 
credit  reports  and  surveys  of  market  pos- 
sibilities for  any  given  line,  with  de- 
tailed customs  duties  and  other  expenses. 


three  and  one-half  cents  is  charged  only 
where  one  color  obtains  in  the  printing, 
and  plain  black  and  white  leaves  the 
least  room  for  discussion.  Two-color 
printing  is  charged  seventy  cents  a 
pound,  and  three  colors  increase  the 
duty  to  $1.25  a  pound.  Consequently, 
your  Brazilian  representative  is  chary 
about  accepting  shipments  of  advertising 
matter,  for  a  little  extra  printing  and 
gilding  may  make  the  stuff  cost  him  more 
for  duty  than  it  costs  you  to  print.  Such 
shipments  are  usually  refused.  The  right 
way  to  supply  him  with  advertising  is  to 
.  see  that  everything  is  printed  in  black 
and  white  and  then  shipped  in  to  him 
through  our  express  service  or  your  Rio 
de  Janeiro  representative  with  instruc- 


82 

tions  to  deliver  free  of  all  duty  charges. 
Brazil  contemplates  the  establishment 
of  four  free  ports  at  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
Bahia,  Pernambuco  and  Para.  At  pres- 
ent, however,  freedom  from  customs 
charges  and  routine  will  apply  only  to 
coal  for  steamships,  so  that  they  can  ob- 
tain it  at  world  prices.  Customs  com- 
plications throughout  Latin  America 
greatly  hamper  business.  An  American 
manufacturer  might  cover  Argentina, 
Uruguay  and  Paraguay  through  a 
branch  in  Buenos  Aires,  supplying  deal- 
ers in  those  three  countries  from  one 
warehouse,  had  Argentina  free  port  privi- 
leges. But  goods  landed  at  Buenos  Aires 
would  have  to  pay  Argentine  duties,  and 
additional  duties  in  Uruguay  or  Para- 
guay if  re-exported  to  those  countries. 
Even  shipments  in  bond  from  one  port 
to  another  in  the  same  country  in- 
volve prohibitive  delays  and  expenses. 
Brazil  has  facilities  for  re-exporting 
without  payment  of  duty,  but  on  many 
shipments  it  is  cheaper  to  pay  the  duties 
than  to  go  through  the  routine.  Even 
where  the  latter  course  is  followed  the 
shipment  re-exported  must  pay  storage 
charges,  port  charges,  statistic  tax,  hand- 
ling charges  and  fees  to  customs  guards, 
bondsmen,  translators  and  consuls. 

COUPLE  CARGO  AND  MAIL 

N  AMERICAN  corporation  with  a 
big  plant  in  one  of  the  Latin- Ameri- 
can countries  sent  down  a  new  general 
manager  from  the  United  States.  Its 
business  in  that  country  is  done  through 
a  local  corporation,  headed  by  a  Latin 
American  as  president.  It  was  sug- 
gested that  the  president  get  in  touch 
with  the  new  executive.  "I  shan't  be 
able  to  receive  him,"  said  the  Latin 
American,  "until  the  social  season  is 
over."  Being  the  honorary  president  of 
such  a  corporation  is  becoming  almost  a 
profession  in  itself  with  the  increase  of 
foreign  activities  on  the  southern  conti- 
nent. It  is  usually  a  job  awarded  through 
political  or  social  influence,  carries  a 
good  salary,  and  the  other  fellow  does 
all  the  work. 

It  is  said  that  the  United  States  post- 
office  has  for  years  delivered  navy  mail 
all  over  the  world  efficiently  through  a 
special  dispatching  service  that  keeps 
track  of  naval  vessels,  wherever  they  may 
be,  and  reaches  them  by  keeping  track 
of  mail  steamers.  Our  Postoffice  Depart- 
ment has  obviously  not  extended  this  dis- 
patching service  to  business  mail — at 
least  not  on  east-coast  routes  to  South 
America.  For  the  British  passenger 
ships  which  were  formerly  our  only  mail 
connection  have  continued  to  carry  the 
bulk  of  the  letters.  They  take  fully 
twenty-five  days  between  New  York  and 
Buenos  Aires,  calling  at  various  ports 
between.      Meanwhile  our  new   freight 


BRAZIL 


A! 


ships,  making  the  voyage  direct  to  Rio  de 
Janeiro  and  Buenos  Aires  in  from  seven- 
teen to  twenty  days,  have  offered  the  best 
postal  facilities,  but  have  been  utilized 
only  in  a  haphazard  way.  In  many 
cases  freight  has  arrived  in  these  ships 
two  weeks  before  documents  sent  on  pas- 
senger ships.  Letters  and  periodicals 
one  month  old  have  often  been  received 
in  advance  of  others  mailed  two  or  three 
weeks  earlier.  It  is  now  reported  that 
the  Department  of  Commerce,  United 
States  shipping  board  and  Postoffice  De- 
partment have  held  a  conference  to  see 
what  can  be  done  to  utilize  our  fairly  fast 
freight  ships  for  postal  purposes.  Ameri- 
cans trying  to  do  business  on  the  east 
coast  of  the  southern  continent,  seeing 
these  freighters  coming  in  almost  weekly, 
wonder  why  a  postoffice  dispatching  serv- 
ice has  not  been  busy  all  summer  put- 
ting the  right  mail  on  the  right  ship  in 
New  York. 

COLONIES  NEED  HOME  WEEKLY 

VI^ITH  American  business  colonies  in- 
creasing all  over  the  world  there  is 
need  for  a  good  weekly  newspaper  chron- 
icling United  States  events  on  lines  simi- 
lar to  the  weekly  editions  of  the  London 
Times  and  London  Daily  Mail.  It  is 
difficult  to  realize  just  how  hungry  peo- 
ple abroad  grow  for  home  news  in  their 
own  language  and  with  their  own  view- 
point. American  news  in  Latin-Ameri- 
can papers  amounts  to  several  columns 
daily,  but  is  chiefly  of  political  and  dip- 
lomatic character.  We  have  several 
weekly  magazines  widely  read  by  Ameri- 
cans abroad  because  they  comment  upon 
current  affairs  in  a  general  way,  but 
none  that  actually  condenses  the  news 
itself — they  summarize  opinion  for  peo- 
ple at  home  who  are  reading  the  daily 
papers.  Monthly  news  reviews  come  too 
far  apart.  Daily  papers  from  the  United 
States  are  too  costly  for  the  average 
reader.  The  overseas  editions  of  the  Lon- 
don Times  and  Daily  Mail  cost  less 
than  a  dime  a  week,  and  not  only  keep 
Britons  posted  on  home  affairs,  but  are 
profitable  world  trade  advertising  me- 
diums for  British  manufacturers  and 
merchants.  In  the  case  of  the  Times  the 
general  news  weekly  has  made  possible 
the  establishment  of  special  supplements 
dealing  with  world  trade,  engineering, 
education  and  literary  matters.  This  field 
invites  the  American  newspaper  pub- 
lisher willing  to  spend  a  year  or  two  and 
some  money  developing  circulation  for  a 
weekly  news  summary  among  Americans 
abroad. 


After  a  delay  of  thirty  years,  Brazil 
is  now  going  to  work  to  organize  a  bank 
clearing  house.  Plans  were  laid  for  such 
an  institution  during  the  last  days  of 
the  Brazilian  empire,  in  1889,  but  were 
interfered  with  by  the  revolution  which 
made  Brazil  a  republic.  Now  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Bank  of  Brazil,  Dr.  Cardosa 
de  Almeida,  has  drawn  up  a  new  plan, 
with  the  necessary  law,  and  the  sugges- 
tions of  bankers  in  Brazil  have  been  asked 
for.  A  committee  of  five  bankers  to  re- 
ceive suggestions  and  give  the  institution 
final  shape  includes  two  representatives 
from  Brazilian  banks,  one  Portuguese, 
one  British  and  one  American.  Ulti- 
mately this  clearing  house  will  handle  a 
great  volume  of  checks  as  Brazilian  busi- 
ness men  substitute  them  for  cash  pay- 
ments, but  today  there  is  not  sufficient 
volume  of  checks  to  keep  a  Brazilian 
clearing  house  busy.  But  a  quick,  eco- 
nomical clearing  system  is  already  needed 
to  simplify  the  transactions  between  the 
many  banks  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  and 
throughout  Brazil  itself.  In  the  capital 
alone,  besides  the  National  Bank  of  Bra- 
zil and  the  Brazilian  Commercial  Bank, 
there  are  branch  banks  of  the  following 
nationalities:  British,  French,  Dutch, 
Italian,  Belgian,  Portuguese,  Japanese, 
Spanish,  United  States,  Canadian  and 
German. 

TEA  NOT  "DRY"  RELIEF 

tj^YTRY  American  who  hears  about 
verba  mate  for  the  first  time  wants 
to  try  it.  This  is  the  South  American 
tea,  drunk  by  the  Indians  of  Paraguay, 
Brazil  and  Argentina  before  the  coming 
of  the  whites.  In  Brazil  it  is  known  as 
herva  matte  and  65,000  tons  of  it  were 
exported  n  1917.  High  hopes  have  been 
roused  by  the  statement  that  mate  is  a 
harmless  beverage  with  a  kick  like  beer. 
But  alas!  it  is  as  kickless  as  harmless, 
tasting  somewhat  like  grandmother's 
"yarb  tea."  That  virtually  all  Argen- 
tina and  Paraguay  prefer  it  to  tea,  how- 
ever, and  the  greater  part  of  Brazil  to 
coffee,  shows  that  it  must  have  some  last- 
ing merit.  Mate  grows  wild,  in  groves 
near  pine  trees,  and  is  gathered  by  In- 
dians, who  locate  the  groves  by  finding 
the  higher  pine  trees  and  gather  the  mate 
after  the  establishment  of  camps.  Some- 
times the  trees  are  cut  down,  while  again 
the  tenderer  twigs  are  cut  off.  The  leaves 
are  then  singed  over  fires  and  packed  in 
bales  when  dry.  Mate  has  also  been  es- 
tablished in  plantations,  where  the  gath- 
ering of  the  twigs  is  more  easily  and 
skillfully  done.  In  view  of  the  world's 
interest  in  prohibition  as  well  as  the  ris- 
ing price  in  coffee  and  tea,  Brazilians 
believe  that  the  use  of  mate  can  be  ex- 
tended to  Europe  and  the  United  States 
by   demonstration   and    advertising. 


BRAZIL 


83 


T 


ARTICLE  XL 

BRAZIL'S  GREAT  FOREST 
WEALTH  A  HANDICAP 

Rio  de  Janeiro,  Nov.  19. 

A  substance  excellently  adapted  to  the  purpose 
of  wiping  from  paper  the  marks  of  a  black  lead 
pencil,  and  of  which  Mr.  Main,  opposite  the  Royal 
Exchange,  sells  a  cubical  piece  of  half  an  inch 
for  three  shillings. — Dr.   Priestley.    1779. 

HIS  half-inch  piece  has  now  grown 
to  a  full  four-pound  chunk  per 
capita  in  the  United  States,  and  thereby 
Hangs  an  interesting  triangle  of  increas- 
ing rubber  consumption  in  the  United 
States,  increasing  production  in  the  Brit- 
ish East  Indies,  and  stationary  produc- 
tion, with  hard  times,  in  the  Amazon 
country  of  Brazil. 

No  other  nation  uses  rubber  as  we 
do.  Virtually  two  pounds  out  of  every 
four  per  capita  goes  into  our  automobile 
tires,  and  the  growth  of  that  industry  has 
raised  our  importations  from  about  one 
pound  per  capita  to  four  in  the  last  five 
years.  England  is  the  next  largest  con- 
sumer with  one  and  one-quarter  pounds 
per  capita,  France  one  pound  and  Ger- 
many a  half  pound  before  the  war.  We 
take  more  than  60  per  cent  of  the  world's 
rubber  crop. 

When  the  British  demonstrated  that 
rubber  could  be  grown  as  a  plantation 
crop  back  in  the  seventies,  and  set  out 
enormous  acreage  during  the  eighties  and 
nineties  in  Ceylon,  Borneo  and  the 
Malay  states,  the  automobile  was  still  to 
come.  Nobody  really  knew  what  was 
to  be  done  with  the  plantation  rubber 
that  began  to  materialize  about  1900. 
But  industry  has  a  way  of  utilizing  such 
things,  and  through  some  unsuspected 
general  plan  often  provides  them,  like 
plantation  rubber,  before  the  actual  need 
materializes. 

Had  there  been  no  plantation  rubber, 
Brazil's  output  of  wild  rubber  would  to- 
day provide  a  single  tire  and  an  extra 
inner  tube  for  each  automobile  in  the 
United  States,  with  no  rubber  for  any 
other  purpose  or  any  other  country.  For 
the  Brazilian  production  hovers  around 
38,000  tons.  If  she  had  good  roads  and 
motor  transport  in  keeping  with  her  size 
and  population,  her  rubber  production 
would  not  meet  her  own  needs,  and  the 
British  rubber  planter  would  find  her  a 
good  customer. 

MODERN  METHODS  LACKING 

A  FEW  years  ago  Amazon  rubber 
brought  $2  a  pound.  Today  it 
brings  only  thirty-five  cents.  Under  the 
system  of  gathering  wild  rubber,  with 
trees  widely  scattered  through  the  forest, 
the  unhealthy  tropical  climate,  the  exces- 
sive cost  of  food  up  in  the  Amazon  coun- 
try, the  shortage  of  labor  and  the  diffi- 
culty of  developing  new  areas  of  wild 
rubber,  Brazil  finds  it  difficult  to  com- 
pete. Manufacturers  prefer  the  planta- 
tion rubber  because  it  is  clean,  being 
coagulated  with  chemicals  instead  of 
smoked  over  a  fire,  and  coming  in  uni- 


form sheets  ready  for  working,  instead  of 
the  crude,  dirty  bricks  of  Brazilian  for- 
est rubber. 

But  "fine  hard  Para"  still  has  a  qual- 
ity all  its  own,  and  experts  declare  that 
Brazil  might  improve  her  market  by  im- 
proving the  industry,  and  probably  in- 
crease her  output.  Every  pound  of  Para 
rubber  has  to  be  washed  when  it  reaches 
the  United  States.  This  is  done  by  ma- 
chinery, the  hard  biscuits  being  soaked, 
broken  up  into  chunks,  worked  through 
rollers  that  eliminate  the  dirt  accumu- 
lated in  the  smoking  process  and  press 
the  stuff  into  sheets.  It  is  maintained  that 
a  rubber-washing  plant  in  Para  would 
once  more  raise  the  price  of  Brazilian 
rubber  to  the  profit  point.  There  is  also 
room  for  improvement,  it  is  said,  in  tap- 
ping the  wild  trees  by  the  scientific 
methods  devised  on  the  rubber  planta- 
tions, increasing  the  yield  per  tree,  and 
for  better  methods  of  coagulation.  The 
Amazon  rubber  country  probably  leads 
the  world  in  high  cost  of  living,  provi- 
sions being  taken  in  and  sold  at  three  to 
five  times  our  prices,  yet  Brazil  might 
raise  staple  food  articles  near  by.  Nor 
is  there  anything  to  prevent  her  embark- 
ing in  the  rubber  plantation  industry  her- 
self. 

As  with  coffee,  Brazil's  rubber  has 
been  worked  on  the  single-crop  system. 
But  where  coffee  production  grew  beyond 
the  world's  consuming  power  rubber 
was  gathered  wild  without  provision  for 
the  world's  enormously  increasing  de- 
mand. Looking  ahead  ten  years  ago, 
American  rubber  manufacturers  endeav- 
ored to  stimulate  the  Brazilians  to  in- 
crease production.  Meeting  with  little 
response,  they  thereupon  turned  to  the 
plantation  rubber  of  the  East,  where  they 
have  made  investments  in  rubber  proper- 
ties. 

RESOURCES  ARE  UNLIMITED 

DRAZIL'S  rubber  industry  is  now  pass- 
ing through  a  perfectly  natural  and 
logical  transition  period.  When  the  Bra- 
zilians found  their  market  going  they 
first  tried  a  tariff  stimulant,  imposing 
heavy  duties  on  articles  made  from  for- 
eign rubber  imported  into  Brazil,  and  a 
light  duty  on  articles  made  of  Brazil- 
ian rubber.  This  has  not  helped  mat- 
ters, because  Brazil  imports  fewer  than 
2000  tons  of  rubber  articles,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  prove  the  origin  of  the  raw 
material.  Real  development  is  intri- 
cately involved  in  the  general  develop- 
ment of  Brazil  itself — roads  and  rail- 
roads into  rubber  regions,  drainage  and 
settlement,  better  methods  of  gathering 
and    coagulation,    organization    of    the 


workers  for  increased  production,  and 
rubber  production  in  combination  with 
food  and  other  crops. 

The  Amazon  valley  is  so  rich  that  its 
wealth  is  a  handicap  in  solving  this  prob- 
lem. For  while  rubber  is  down  today, 
Brazil  nuts  are  up,  and  can  be  gathered 
wild,  too — not  merely  the  kind  that  you 
eat,  but  the  vegetable  ivory  nuts  from 
which  your  buttons  are  made  and  others 
yielding  edible  and  industrial  oils.  Cocoa 
is  a  fine  Amazon  crop,  bringing  Brazil 
one-third  as  much  as  rubber,  and  there 
are  medicinal  plants,  dyewoods,  hard- 
woods and  other  resources. 

Brazil's  hardwood  forests  are  another 
instance  of  resources  so  abundant  that 
development  has  lagged  for  lack  of  in- 
centive. With  the  forest  right  at  their 
door,  many  of  the  Brazilian  cities  have 
found  it  cheaper  to  import  lumber  than 
to  organize  a  local  industry.  In  Rio  de 
Janeiro  granite  fence  posts  are  used  by 
farmers,  because,  at  about  seventy-five 
cents  apiece,  they  are  cheaper  than  any 
wooden  fence  posts  obtainable. 

In  the  north  there  is  an  amazing  va- 
riety of  woods  so  fine  and  with  so  many 
different  uses  that  they  will  bear  trans- 
portation to  the  United  States  and  Eu- 
rope when  the  industry  is  properly  organ- 
ized. Thus  far  the  world  knows  chiefly 
Brazil's  mahogany,  rosewood  and  ebony. 
But  these  are  supplemented  by  a  hun- 
dred others.  For  cabinet  work,  furni- 
ture and  like  uses,  it  is  possible  to  obtain 
almost  any  color  or  texture,  and  many 
have  beauties  of  grain.  Other  Brazil- 
ian hardwoods  resist  water,  decay  and 
insects.  Still  others  yield  dyes,  oils,  per- 
fumes, essences  and  medicines. 

FORESTS  FULL  OF  FINE  WOODS 

HPHERE  have  been  great  difficulties 
hindering  the  development  of  hard- 
wood lumbering.  For  one  thing,  the 
different  trees  are  usually  isolated,  so 
that  it  is  necessary  to  search  out  in  the 
forest  those  most  in  demand,  and  the 
cost  of  getting  them  to  the  mill  is  often 
prohibitive.  Straight  lumbering  would 
require  virtually  a  department  store  sys- 
tem of  marketing  the  different  varieties 
to  different  industries — one  tree  would  be 
suitable  for  piano  veneers,  the  next  for 
cabinet  and  mosaic  work,  the  next  for 
construction  under  water,  the  next  for 
dyeing  or  tanning,  and  the  next  might 
yield  a  balsam,  a  gum,  a  calking  mate- 
rial, an  imitation  of  sandalwood  or 
fancy  walking  sticks  and  umbrella  han- 
dles. Many  of  these  woods  are  of  iron- 
like hardness  and  will  not  float  in  water, 
which  complicates  lumbering,  and  on  top 
of  that  the  quest  for  rubber  has  made 
labor  scarce  and  costly.  Perhaps  the 
greatest  difficulty  of  all,  however,  has 
been  inadequate  seasoning,  so  that  fine 
Brazilian  woods  worked  up  in  the  United 
States  and  Europe  have  cracked,  checked 
and  given  trouble  generally.  Through 
improved  drying  kilns  developed  in  the 


84 


BRAZIL 


United  States  the  last  few  years,  in  which 
moisture  added  to  the  heat  prevents  the 
uneven  drying  common  with  dry  heat, 
and  the  "case  hardening"  common  with 
old-fashioned  kilns,  it  is  now  possible  to 
season  such  wood  quickly  and  evenly  for 
any  purpose.  The  Brazilian  hardwood 
industry  has  been  struggling  along  for 
years  under  its  difficulties.  It  needs  large- 
scale  production  methods,  backed  by  a 
distribution  system  which  would  make 
its  wide  variety  of  products  known  to 
manufacturers  all  over  the  world  and 
supply  what  each  customer  wanted  in 
variety,  quality  and  form,  to  cut  freight 
to  the  minimum. 

What  can  be  done  with  American 
lumber  methods  in  Brazil's  forests  has 
already  been  demonstrated  with  soft 
wood,  in  the  southern  state  of  Parana. 
A  big  American  sawmill  has  been  in- 
stalled, equipped  with  the  latest  devices, 
including  moisture  kilns.  Parana  pine 
was  found  to  be  so  wet  that  it  would  not 
float,  but  it  is  snaked  out  on  skidders, 
hauled  to  the  mill  by  rail,  kiln-dried  and 
worked  up  into  boards,  timbers,  box  ma- 
terial and  other  products  for  home  use 
and  exportation.  A  thriving  market  is 
found  in  Uruguay  and  Argentina  to  the 
south. 


ARTICLE  XLI 

TAX  GREED  STRANGLED 

BRAZIL  MANGANESE  TRADE 

|^IO  DE  JANEIRO,  Nov.  22.— 
There  was  no  war  cloud  on  the 
horizon  in  September,  1913,  when  the 
United  States  Steel  Corporation  put  the 
American  flag  on  the  ocean  route  be- 
tween our  own  country  and  Brazil.  The 
Stars  and  Stripes  had  not  been  seen  on 
a  steamer  for  twenty  years  in  that  quar- 
ter of  the  world.  Americans  were  not 
worried  about  it.  Foreign  steamships 
gave  us  such  splendid  service!  Why  be 
sentimental  about  the  flag?  But  James 
A.  Farrell,  president  of  the  steel  corpora- 
tion, did  not  find  foreign  steamship  serv- 
ice so  splendiferous  when  it  came  to  sell- 
ing steel  in  Brazil.  Countries  furnish- 
ing the  service  were  all  selling  steel 
themselves.  Study  of  freight  rates  dem- 
onstrated that  after  we  had  effected 
economies  in  manufacture  and  were  able 
to  save  the  Brazilians  some  money  on 
steel,  they  lost  the  saving  and  we  lost  our 
market  through  manipulation  of  steam- 
ship rates.  So  monthly  steamships  of  the 
highest  class  were  put  on  between  New 
York  and  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

Steel  is  a  heavy,  compact  cargo,  so 
bulk  freight  could  be  carried  with  it. 
The  regular  sailings  immediately  stimu- 
lated merchandise  sales  to  Brazil. 

The  only  problem  was  return  cargo 
on  the  5000-mile  voyage  home.  To  pro- 
vide this  cargo  the  corporation  began 
hauling  back  Brazilian  manganese  ore, 
making    its    own    ferro-manganese,    the 


SAO  PAULO'S  LEADING  HOTEL.  THE  HEAD- 
QUARTERS OF  THE  U.  S.  TRADE  SCOUTS 


scavenger  of  steel.  At  that  time  our 
steel  industry  was  also  getting  splendid 
ferro-manganese  from  Europe,  and  there 
seemed  no  reason  for  making  it  our- 
selves. 

But  when  war  came  out  of  a  clear 
sky  and  supplies  of  ferro-manganese  were 
cut  off  by  Europe  and  the  material  rose 
to  several  hundred  dollars  a  ton,  the 
wisdom  of  doing  such  things  for  our- 
selves was  quickly  seen.  Had  we  not 
been  able  to  get  Brazilian  manganese 
through  this  careful  balance  of  steam- 
ship service  with  steel  sales,  bulk  freight 
and  ore,  we  should  have  been  in  a  pretty 
pickle  for  munitions. 

GREAT  INDUSTRY  DIED 

VUAR  demand  for  manganese  later 
brought  a  Philadelphia  concern  into 
the  field — E.  J.  Lavino  &  Co.,  who  make 
special  alloys  for  the  steel  industry,  and 
began  bringing  the  ore  from  Brazil  to 
Philadelphia  in  chartered  ships  through 
the  International  Ore  Corporation,  Ltd. 

The  Brazilians  were  delighted  with 
this  new  market  for  their  manganese. 
From  small  shipments,  the  traffic  grew 
to  122,000  tons  in  1913  and  532,000  tons 
in  1917,  virtually  all  taken  by  the  United 
States.  Mines  were  worked  in  a  larger 
way,  new  deposits  opened  up,  and  eco- 
nomical modern  methods  of  mining  de- 
veloped under  American  engineers. 

Then  entered  the  complications  of 
Brazilian  state  taxes.  Back  in  the  old 
Colonial  days  the  distant  king  of  Portu- 
gal got  revenue  out  of  Brazil  by  clap- 
ping heavy  taxes  on  every  enterprise  that 
showed  activity.  The  Brazilian  states 
have  done  the  same,  pending  their  work- 
ing out  of  a  sounder  local  tax  scheme. 
Most  of  the  manganese  is  mined  in  the 
state  of  Minas  Geraes.  When  the  Ameri- 


cans first  came  for  ore  this  state  imposed 
a  reasonable  export  tax  by  valuing  the 
stuff  arbitrarily  at  $12  a  ton,  and  col- 
lecting 4  per  cent  on  that — forty-eight 
cents.  By  1917  the  value  had  been  raised 
to  $24  a  ton,  at  8  per  cent,  $1.92  export 
fee.  By  armistice  time  there  was  talk  of 
charging  25  per  cent  at  $25 — $6.25  per 
ton! 

Railroad  freight  rates  from  the  mines 
to  the  ocean  were  a/iother  item  of  ex- 
pense that  rose  progressively.  In  1913, 
with  moderate  cost  coal,  they  were  rea- 
sonable by  Brazilian  standards.  But  as 
coal  grew  scarce  during  the  war  they 
steadily  rose.  The  railway  bringing  down 
manganese  is  a  government  line.  It  is 
heavily  overmanned.  Instead  of  encour- 
aging manganese  traffic  growth  by  mak- 
ing lower  rates  for  larger  shipments,  the 
tendency  had  been  to  increase  rates  as 
the  business  grew,  though,  without  man- 
ganese, freight  cars  must  be  hauled  back 
empty  from  the  interior. 

BUSINESS  WENT  TO  INDIA 

AT  THE  present  writing  280,000  tons 
of  manganese  ore  are  lying  on  the 
docks  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  because  the 
United  States  can  get  the  stuff  from 
India  for  less  than  the  Brazilian  article 
costs  laid  down  in  New  York,  with  its 
railroad  and  steamship  freights,  state 
and  federal  export  taxes  and  other  items. 
India's  ore  is  being  marketed  under  an 
arbitrary  government  ruling  whereby  re- 
turning ships  are  really  used  to  valorize 
the  mines  and  make  them  pay. 

"Brazil  can  get  into  the  manganese 
game  again,  and  probably  stay  in,"  says 
an  American  student  of  the  situation,  "if 
she  cuts  down  the  export  duties,  runs  the 
railroad  with  3000  employes  instead  of 
15,000,  and  quotes  a  freight  rate  that 
will  encourage  volume." 

But  that  is  only  the  first  chapter  in  the 
story  of  Brazilian  manganese  under 
American  development.  The  second 
chapter  is  written  here  for  the  first  time 
and  illustrates  what  American  enterprise 
can  find  in  a  country  so  rich  as  Brazil : 

About  fifteen  years  ago  J.  Richmond 
Guimaraes,  an  American  of  Portuguese 
descent,  went  from  Montclair,  N.  J.,  to 
the  interior  of  Brazil  and  secured  a  con- 
cession from  the  state  of  Matto  Grosso, 
more  than  18,000  square  miles  in  area — 
twice  the  size  of  New  Jersey.  This 
concession  then  lay  in  a  section  little 
explored.  Colonel  Roosevelt  went 
through  part  of  it  on  his  Brazilian  expe- 
dition. But  it  was  known  to  be  rich  in 
rubber,  which  could  be  gathered  and 
brought  to  market  south  on  the  river  Par- 
aguay, instead  of  north  over  the  Ama- 
zon. The  man  from  Montclair  organ- 
ized rubber  crews  and  started  explora- 
tion. He  began  to  find  other  things. 
There  was  gold,  for  one,  and  water 
power  in  abundance,  and  a  wilderness  of 
ipecac  back  there  in  God's  great  outdoors 


BRAZIL 


85 


big  enough  to  supply  the  world  with 
emetics. 

Development  did  not  go  very  fast,  be- 
cause the  territory  was  so  enormous,  and 
also  because  political  disturbances  in  the 
state  of  Matto  Grosso  hampered  the 
work. 

About  six  years  ago  another  Ameri- 
can arrived  in  Brazil — Captain  William 
Lowry,  who  had  been  sent  down  to  man- 
age the  United  States  Steel  Corpora- 
tion's steamers  at  Rio  de  Janeiro.  He 
quickly  became  interested  in  Mr.  Gui- 
maraes  and  his  concession. 

WORLD'S  LARGEST  DEPOSITS 

HpHE  man  from  Montclair  is  imagina- 
tive and  enthusiastic,  while  Captain 
Lowry  is  a  promoter  in  the  constructive 
sense  of  the  term.  The  man  from  Mont- 
clair would  go  back  into  the  wilderness 
of  his  concession,  exploring,  charting, 
gathering  information  and  specimens, 
and  return  to  Rio  de  Janeiro  full  of  won- 
der stories.  In  the  intervals  of  his  steam- 
ship business,  Captain  Lowry  listened 
to  Guimaraes,  and  to  other  people  who 
brought  him  information,  and  sitting  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  began  putting  together 
a  picture  puzzle  of  unrelated  facts — 
which  is  the  promoter's  distinctive  job. 

One  of  the  first  bits  in  the  picture 
puzzle  came  in  the  form  of  manganese 
ore  specimens.  These  had  been  found 
on  a  Belgian  concession.  Having  never 
worked  it,  the  Belgians  had  lost  their 
rights,  but  Brazilian  sympathy  was  averse 
to  cancellation  during  the  war.  Some 
quiet  negotiations  led  to  the  purchase  of 
the  Belgian  rights  and  the  formation  of 
a  mining  and  transportation  company. 
Then  some  of  the  best  mining  engineers 
were  sent  in  to  investigate,  and  one  man- 
ganese expert  pronounced  the  deposit 
"probably  the  largest  one  mass  body  of 
manganese  ore  in  the  world." 

This  ore  lies  fully  1000  miles  from 
the  ocean  by  railroad,  so  that  rail  trans- 
portation would  be  prohibitive  under 
Brazilian  rates,  al- 
though there  is  rail 
connection  all  the 
way  except  twen- 
ty-five miles.  But 
a  twenty-mile  rail- 
road from  the 
mine  to  the  Para- 
guay river  would 
provide  a  water 
route  to  market — 
"a  Pittsburgh-to- 
New  Orleans  prop- 
osition," as  Cap- 
tain Lowry  puts  it. 
Loading  at  Corum- 
ba,  ore  could  be 
floated  down  the 
rivers  Paraguay, 
Parana  and  La 
Plata  to  Monte- 
video,   and   there 


loaded  on  ocean  steamers  for  the  United 
States. 

Those  were  war  times,  and  manganese 
coming  down  from  Minas  Geraes  to  Rio 
de  Janeiro,  with  the  steamship  business 
too,  made  work  enough  for  a  busy  man. 
But  looking  ahead  five  years  to  see  how 
he  might  possibly  have  to  load  his  steam- 
ers with  return  cargo,  Captain  Lowry 
found  the  time  and  the  money  to  fit  an- 
other piece  into  his  picture  puzzle,  build- 
ing the  railroad  from  the  mine  to  the 
river.  At  the  same  time  he  had  an  engi- 
neer investigate  and  report  upon  river 
transportation  from  Corumba  to  Monte- 
video. It  was  found  that  ore  could  be 
carried  ten  months  in  the  year  by  steamer 
and  barges  for  $3  a  ton,  as  against  $4 
by  railroad  from  Minas  Geraes  to  Rio 
de  Janeiro.  Arrangements  were  made  to 
lease  steamers. 

ANTHRACITE   BEING   SOUGHT 

/")NE  day  a  strange  Brazilian  called  on 
the  captain  with  a  story  and  a  piece 
of  coal.  Coming  down  a  little-known 
river  on  the  Guimaraes  concession  in  a 
canoe,  he  had  found  himself  running 
through  a  gorge  with  black  stuff  crop- 
ping out  on  both  sides.  Stopping  five 
minutes  he  knocked  off  a  single  specimen 
of  this  black  stuff  and  brought  it  along. 
People  told  him  it  was  coal,  and  he  had 
heard  that  Captain  Lowry  was  inter- 
ested in  coal.  He  left  his  specimen.  A 
Brazilian  chemist,  after  analysis,  de- 
clared it  anthracite  of  a  quality  so  good 
that  it  could  not  have  come  from  Brazil, 
but  must  have  been  taken  from  a  steam- 
ship. The  captain  concluded  that  the 
Brazilian  was  perhaps  a  crank  or  a 
faker  and  forgot  the  incident  until  he 
suddenly  discovered  that  this  was  an- 
other important  piece  in  the  picture  puz- 
zle. 

Now,  most  minerals  are  concentrated 
by  crushing  the  ore  and  effecting  water 
separation.  But  not  manganese,  which 
is  stubborn  stuff,  and  must  be  smelted 


out  with  coal  or  coke,  or  at  a  pinch,  per- 
haps, water-power  electricity.  That  sin- 
gle lump  of  coal  became  so  important 
that  the  captain  started  looking  for  the 
strange  Brazilian — and  learned  that  in 
the  meantime  he  had  died. 

Another  engineer  was  sent  off  into  the 
wilderness. 

"Find  that  coal,"  directed  the  captain, 
"and  bring  me  a  ton  of  it — I  want 
enough  to  work  with.'" 

At  this  writing  the  ton  of  coal  has  not 
yet  materialized,  but  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  it  will,  providing  not  only 
fuel  to  concentrate  manganese,  but  start 
a  coal  trade  to  Paraguay,  Argentina  and 
Uruguay. 


AVENIDA  TIRADENTES. 


THE   MAIN   PARKWAY    AND 
STREET    OF    SAO    PAULO 


ARTICLE  XLII 

PENSIONS  AND  PAYROLLS 
USE  80  P.  C.  OF  REVENUE 

RIO  DE  JANEIRO,  Nov.  24.— The 
Brazilian    republic    is    now    thirty 
years  old. 

The  other  day  the  Brazilian  people 
got  virtually  the  first  trial  balance  they 
have  had  since  their  republic  was  estab- 
lished. 

This  document  took  the  form  of  a  mes- 
sage to  Congress — the  first  message  of 
President  Epitacio  Pessoa,  the  Latin- 
American  executive  best  known  in  the 
United  States  through  his  recent  visit. 

Doctor  Pessoa  reached  Rio  de  Janeiro 
on  the  U.  S.  S.  Idaho  July  22,  was  inau- 
gurated six  days  later,  and  six  days  after 
that  sent  to  Congress  a  state  document 
which,  for  its  plain  speaking,  downright 
common  sense  and  absence  of  graceful 
generalities,  is  something  admittedly  new 
in  Brazilian  statesmanship. 

He  talked  to  Brazil  as  a  sober  admin- 
istrator to  a  young  spendthrift. 

In  the  last  five  years  the  country  has 
run  up  a  government  deficit  of  more 
than  $250,000,000.  Everything  has  been 
going  out  and  not  enough  coming  in. 
Brazil's  chief  fed- 
eral  revenue  is 
from  import  duties 
on  goods,  and  these 
were  cut  down 
luring  the  war.  In- 
stead of  economiz- 
ing, however,  the 
govern  ment  in- 
creased expendi- 
tures. Brazil's  par- 
ticipation in  the 
war  cost  some- 
thing, but  was 
money  well  in- 
vested for  the  pres- 
tige it  gave  her  in 
the  United  States 
and  Europe.  But 
her  chief  burden 
has  been  an  enor- 
mous   increase    in 


CHIEF    RESIDENTIAL, 


86 


BRAZIL 


the  number  of  government  employes. 
Every  government  department  has  been 
adding  assistants,  many  of  whom  do  little 
real  work.  Federal  job-making  has  gone 
such  lengths  that  four-fifths  of  Brazil's 
revenue  is  spent  for  salaries  and  pen- 
sions, leaving  only  20  per  cent  for  the 
equipment  of  the  army  and  navy,  the 
maintenance  and  improvement  of  the 
government's  railroad  and  steamship 
lines,  and  the  purchase  of  department 
supplies.  Each  year  during  the  war  the 
growing  deficit  has  been  met  by  foreign 
and  domestic  loans  in  paper  money. 
Twice  during  the  war  interest  and  pay- 
ments upon  the  public  debt  were  sus- 
pended. Yet  only  two  months  before 
Doctor  Pessoa  took  office  a  large  number 
of  new  employes  were  added  to  the  fed- 
eral payroll. 

"You  are  not  only  a  spendthrift,"  he 
said  in  effect,  "but  have  been  taking  nar- 
cotics. You  have  given  me  the  job  of 
straightening  you  out,  but  you  have  got 
to  help  yourself." 

NATION  IS 
IDEALISTIC 

rpHE  Brazilians 
sat  up  and 
listened  to 
"Epitacio,"  as  they 
familiarly  call  him, 
and  his  first  mes- 
sage was  followed 
by  others,  a  week 
apart,  outlining 
the  work  to  be 
done  in  other  direc- 
tions, such  as  the 
relief  of  the 
drought  -  stricken 
northern  states,  the 
reorganization  of 
the  bankrupt  gov- 
ernment steamship 
lines,  the  provi- 
sion   of    a    sound 

banking  and  credit  system,  the  improve- 
ment of  sanitation  throughout  the  re- 
public and  other  practical  administra- 
tive measures. 

Doctor  Pessoa  faces  problems  not  un- 
like those  that  lay  ahead  of  Doctor  Wil- 
son when  he  first  took  office,  and  an  in- 
teresting comparison  has  been  made  be- 
tween Brazil's  president  and  our  own. 

"We  are  a  practical  people,  and  in 
President  Wilson  have  had  a  leader  who 
added  idealism  to  our  practicality,"  says 
an  American  living  in  Rio  de  Janeiro 
and  intimately  acquainted  wjth  Brazil- 
ian politics.  "The  Brazilians  are  ideal- 
istic, and  in  President  Pessoa  have  a 
leader  who  adds  much-needed  practical 
common  sense." 

"Epitacio"  is  in  several  ways  an  en- 
tirely new  type  of  executive  for  Brazil, 
and  one  upon  whom  center  many  hopes. 

Born  in  1865  in  a  little  country  town 
in  Parahyba,  one  of  the  smallest  states, 
he  is  a   self-made  man.      He   has  risen 


without  means  or  influence.  He  worked 
his  way  through  school  and  college,  grad- 
uating in  law.  While  only  seventeen  he 
was  acting  public  prosecutor  in  Pernam- 
buco,  then  held  small  judicial  offices 
until  elected  to  the  Legislature  in  his 
own  state.  In  1899  he  was  made  minis- 
ter of  justice  in  the  national  government, 
took  an  active  part  in  reforming  Bra- 
zil's civil  code,  and  in  1912  rose  to  the 
Supreme  Court.  A  year  later  he  was 
elected  to  the  federal  Senate  from  his 
own  state,  and  when  sent  abroad  as  Bra- 
zilian representative  in  the  Peace  Con- 
ference quickly  demonstrated  such  abil- 
ity that  he  was  chosen  for  president  under 
the  system  which  prevails  in  Brazil — 
a  system  which,  compared  with  our  own, 
is  somewhat  peculiar. 

Doctor  Pessoa  is  a  battery  of  energy. 

From  north  to  south  Brazil  is  divided 
into  three  zones.  In  the  central  zone, 
which  includes  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  the 
wonderfully  rich  but  undeveloped  state 


RAILROAD    TERMINAL   AT    SAO    PAULO 

of  Minas  Geraes,  the  climate  is  so  fa- 
vorable that  the  Brazilians  there  blame  it 
for  their  lack  of  energy.  In  the  cool 
states  of  the  south  and  the  hot  drought- 
stricken  little  states  of  the  north  life  is 
more  difficult,  and  has  developed  ener- 
getic people.  "Epitacio"  is  a  little  hus- 
tler from  the  north.  He  can  be  seen  at 
seven  every  morning  taking  horseback 
exercise  in  the  grounds  of  the  presiden- 
tial palace.  Within  a  week  after  taking 
office  his  time  for  two  months  ahead  was 
scheduled  with  work,  conferences  and  in- 
vestigations. Next  to  energy,  his  chief 
characteristics  are  plain  common  sense, 
belief  in  his  own  ideas,  courage  to  carry 
them  out  and  a  disposition  to  decide  and 
do  all  things  for  himself. 

NEW  RULER  IS  PRACTICAL 

DLAIN  common  sense  has  been  decid- 
edly scarce  in  Brazilian  government. 
The  Brazilians  live  in  a  perfect  economic 
and    political    fairyland.      With    half    a 


continent  calling  for  development  and  a 
shortage  of  people  to  do  the  work,  they 
have  made  government  jobs  for  idlers 
by  wholesale.  In  a  country  naturally 
agricultural,  they  have  withdrawn  labor 
to  create  manufacturing  industries  under 
protective  tariffs  so  stiff  that  there  is 
probably  no  other  country  in  the  world 
where  prices  of  merchandise  are  so  uni- 
formly high — industrially  they  seem  to 
have  artificially  speeded  ahead  of  natural 
growth.  When  outside  capital  and  en- 
ergy are  enlisted  for  development,  they 
have  given  rich  concessions  and  monopo- 
lies on  any  terms,  but  when  actual  de- 
velopments begin,  often  stop  it  with  a 
multitude  of  special  federal  and  state 
taxes  and  restrictions.  In  neither  poli- 
tics nor  business  does  the  Brazilian  take 
the  direct  road,  but  this  is  due  more  to 
lack  of  experience  than  any  particular 
sophistry  in  the  real  Brazilian  tempera- 
ment. 

"Epitacio"  appears  to  be  the  man  who 
will  lead  them  out 
of  the  jungle,  and 
there  is    reason    to 
believe      that     the 
Brazilians         are 
ready  to   follow  a 
practical        leader. 
Confident     of    his 
own     ideas     and 
ability,  he  is  going 
to    give    Brazil 
what  it    has    long 
lacked — an  admin- 
istration.       Brazil 
ranged   herself   be- 
side   the   Allies   in 
the  war,  and  then, 
for  lack  of  a  vigor- 
ous ruler,  conserva- 
tively     went       to 
sleep  and   took  no 
further      steps. 
Through     govern- 
mental     indecision 
the  German  ships  in  Brazilian  harbors 
were  not  actually  seized,  so  that  compli- 
cations arose  later  in  the  Peace  Confer- 
ence   over    their    ownership,    involving 
feeling     against     Brazil's    idol,    France. 
Through  similar  short-sightedness,  ship- 
ments    of     Brazilian     manganese     ore, 
urgently  needed  for  our  munition  mak- 
ing, were  interfered  with  several  months 
during  the  war  crisis. 

Doctor  Pessoa  is  unmistakably  a  ruler. 
He  has  announced  a  practical  policy  of 
reconstruction  and  development.  At  this 
writing  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether 
Congress  will  back  up  his  measures.  His 
very  confidence  in  himself  and  his  par- 
tiality for  doing  things  himself  may  lead 
to  a  test  of  strength  between  the  execu- 
tive and  legislative  powers.  But  out 
in  the  vast  interior  of  the  republic,  where 
the  plain  country  people  live  with  reali- 
ties, far  from  the  artificialities  of  Rio 
de   Janeiro,   there   is  a  strong   national 


BRAZIL 


87 


common  sense  which  will  support  "Epi- 
tacio,"  if  he  can  enlist  it. 

APATHETIC  IN  POLITICS 

TTHIS  in  itself  is  an  almost  superhuman 
task  by  reason  of  Brazil's  undevel- 
oped sense  of  political  action  and  lack  of 
responsive  national  public  opinion. 

Our  popular  presidential  vote  in  1916 
was  18,500,000.  At  the  same  ratio  Bra- 
zil should  cast  4,500,000  votes  for  a 
president.  Actually  the  total  national 
vote  in  the  last  election  was  only  367,645, 
about  equal  to  the  voters  in  Wisconsin, 
Doctor  Pessoa  receiving  249,342  bal- 
lots and  Dr.  Ruy  Barbosa,  the  only 
other  candidate,   118,303. 

The  Brazilian  president  is  not  elected 
by  popular  vote.  He  is  selected  by  the 
political  bosses  of  virtually  three  states 
— Minas  Geraes,  Sao  Paulo  and  Rio 
Grande  do  Sul — with  a  certain  amount 
of  influence  from  the  states  of  Pernam- 
buco,  Bahia  and  Rio  de  Janeiro.  Minas 
Geraes  is  the  most 
thickly  populated 
state  in  Brazil, 
with  3,500,000 
people,  but  it  is 
also  the  most  con- 
servative and  back- 
ward in  develop- 
ment. The  previ- 
ous Brazilian  ad- 
ministration, which 
took  one  step  in  the 
war  and  then  took 
no  more,  was  rep- 
resentative of  that 
state.  Sao  Paulo 
is  the  next  most 
populous  state 
with  2,500,000 
people,  and  also  the 
most  energetic  in 
Brazil — its  capital 
city    of    the    same 

name,  with  its  industries  and  railroads, 
is  the  Chicago  of  Latin  America.  Rio 
Grande  do  Sul,  still  farther  in  the  cool 
south,  with  1,200,000  population,  a 
neighbor  of  energetic  Uruguay,  is  also 
enterprising. 

To  show  that  the  word  "boss"  does 
not  mean  in  Brazil  what  it  means  to  us 
an  illustration  may  be  taken  from  Rio 
Grande  do  Sul. 

The  French  philosophy  of  positivism 
has  taken  such  strong  root  in  Brazil 
that  its  motto,  "Order  and  Progress," 
is  part  of  the  Brazilian  flag.  Positivism 
deals  with  facts  alone,  and  excludes  in- 
quiry into  causes.  Rio  Grande  do  Sul 
is  a  stronghold  of  positivists,  and  has  a 
positivist  system  of  state  government.  It 
has  also  had  the  same  state  president 
during  the  last  thirty  years,  the  entire 
period  of  the  republic,  and  been  pros- 
perous and  well  governed  under  him. 
This  is  the  type  of  man  who  dominates 
the  federal  elections  in  Brazil  and,  while 


by  our  political  standards  such  a  system 
seems  to  hold  vast  possibilities  for  abuse 
of  power,  in  Brazil  it  has  worked  fairly 
well  and  is  part  of  the  country's  growth 
into  real  self-government. 

Brazil  has  no  political  parties.  From 
time  to  time  factions  arise  around  some 
leader,  but  never  grow  into  strong  par- 
ties with  definite  programs.  Voting  is 
made  difficult  by  poll  fees  amounting  to 
ten  or  fifteen  dollars,  so  that  few  citizens 
can  afford  the  luxury.  Recognizing  this 
shortcoming,  business  organizations  and 
merchants  sometimes  pay  the  poll  fee  for 
their  employes,  but  ballot  reform  has  not 
yet  become  a  healthy  political  issue.  Doc- 
tor Pessoa  recognizes  absence  of  political 
parties  and  smallness  of  the  electorate  as 
grave  shortcomings,  and  has  pledged  him- 
self to  constructive  reform.  Obviously 
reform  in  the  ballot  and  broader  public 
opinion  are  to  the  advantage  of  the  execu- 
tive. 

The  most  interesting  thing  about  this 


GRAND   OPERA    HOUSE   AT    SAO  PAULO 

"boss"  system  in  Brazilian  politics  just 
now  is  its  selection  of  Epitacio  Pessoa 
for  president. 

A  PRECEDENT  BROKEN 

pOR  he  does  not  come  from  one  of  the 
"Big  Three"  states,  and  this  is  the 
first  time  that  a  Brazilian  president  has 
come  from  any  outside  state.  He  does 
not  even  come  from  one  of  the  "Little 
Three,"  nor  is  he  finally  a  man  who  has 
domesticated  himself  in  the  Brazilian 
capital,  thus  gaining  political  influence. 
He  comes  from  a  state  that  is  small,  poor, 
with  about  half  the  population  of  the  city 
of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  no  political  in- 
fluence at  all.  The  Brazilian  presiden- 
tial election  has  been  called  a  "selection." 
The  "Big  Three"  selected  "Epitacio"  be- 
cause they  needed  him,  and  because  Bra- 
zil needs  him,  and  because  no  other 
man  stood  out  as  he  does,  and  while  he 
lacks  behind  him,  in  case  of  dissension, 
the  powerful  influence  of  an  executive 


native  to  one  of  the  "Big  Three,"  it  is 
conceded  that  he  has  the  backing  of  all 
for  the  good  of  Brazil  in  any  reasonable 
constructive  program. 

They  selected  him  because  Brazil 
needs  a  strong  man  to  take  hold  and  pull 
her  out  of  difficulties. 

And  "Epitacio"  lost  no  time  in  taking 
hold. 

His  first  step  was  the  appointment  of 
a  cabinet.  In  making  his  selections  he 
broke  several  precedents.  There  was  a 
delicately  balanced  cabinet  inherited  from 
the  previous  administration,  and  people 
wondered  which  of  those  ministers  he 
would  retain  and  how  he  would  shift 
them  about.  He  made  an  entirely  new 
selection  of  his  own,  not  one  appointee 
having  been  previously  mentioned  in  the 
press.  The  ministers  of  war  and  navy 
in  Brazil  have  always  been  military  men 
in  the  times  of  the  republic.  Against  a 
general  feeling  that  the  appointment  of 
civilians  would  cause  dissatisfaction  in 
the  army  and  navy, 
he  appointed  civil- 
ians to  both  port- 
folios and  every- 
b  o  d  y  likes  the 
change.  Young 
officers  in  both 
services  were  in 
favor  of  civilian 
ministers,  but  the 
older  ones  were 
not.  The  step  was 
taken  boldly  but 
tactfully.  Admiral 
Gomez  Pereira, 
former  minister  of 
the  navy,  aided  the 
president  hand- 
somely by  stepping 
down  to  be  chief 
of  staff  under  a 
new  minister,  and 
the  situation  in  the 
army  was  eased  by  keeping  General  Ben- 
ton Rebeira  as  chief  of  staff. 

The  president  of  Brazil  has  several  im- 
portant appointments  outside  his  cabinet 
— the  directors  of  government  steamship 
and  railway  lines,  of  the  Bank  of  Brazil, 
and  the  mayor  and  chief  of  police  of  Rio 
de  Janeiro.  New  men  were  appointed 
to  all  these  posts  and  new  policies  laid 
down  for  some  of  them. 

For  nearly  thirty  years  the  Brazilian 
Lloyd  steamship  lines  have  been  under 
government  operation  and  ownership,  and 
likewise  a  burden  to  the  country.  This 
is  one  of  the  few  steamship  enterprises 
in  the  world  that  could  not  make  money 
during  the  war.  Successive  deficits  have 
put  it  into  bankruptcy,  and  for  years 
there  have  been  bitter  complaints  from 
passengers  and  shippers  about  its  service 
on  ocean,  coastwise  and  river  routes.  Doc- 
tor Pessoa  has  suggested  a  new  basis  of 
operation,  whereby  government  control 
and  private  enterprise  will  be  combined 


88 


BRAZIL 


by  forming  a  new  corporation,  with  pri- 
vate business  interests  holding  part  of 
the  stock  and  running  the  enterprise 
while  the  government  owns  the  balance, 
with  simple  rights  as  a  shareholder. 

The  Bank  of  Brazil  has  restricted 
capital,  small  rediscounting  ability  and 
no  power  to  issue  currency  in  a  crisis  on 
the  lines  of  our  federal  reserve  system. 
Brazil  is  where  we  were  in  banking  mat- 
ters during  the  crisis  of  1907,  and  her 
business  interests  lost  millions  of  dollars 
during  the  war  simply  because  currency 
and  credit  were  inflexible.  A  plan  for 
correcting  these  shortcomings  has  been 
drawn  up. 

DROUGHTS  ARE  PERIODIC 

PERIODICAL  droughts  in  the  north- 
ern states  of  Brazil — among  others 
the  president's  own  state  of  Parahyba — 
have  caused  such  tragic  suffering  in  addi- 
tion to  money  loss  that  a  far-reaching 
plan  of  irrigation  was  among  the  first 
things  outlined  by  him  in  a  message  to 
Congress,  under  which  large  reservoirs 
and  canals  will  be  built  with  money  bor- 
rowed on  bonds  and  the  improvement  of 
that  region  ultimately  made  to  repay  the 
government. 

Rio  de  Janeiro  abounds  in  newspa- 
pers, many  of  which  have  drawn  subsi- 
dies from  the  federal  treasury  for  vari- 
ous political  services.  One  of  the  new 
president's  first  steps  was  to  cut  off  these 
subsidies — a  step  as  bold  as  it  was  hon- 
est in  view  of  the  damage  that  might  be 
done  an  administration  by  a  hostile  press. 

Another  step  showing  results  of  study 
in  our  own  country  was  the  suggestion 
to  Congress  of  a  heavy  tax  on  alcoholic 
liquors. 

Still  another  departure  susceptible  of 
interesting  political  interpretations  was 
his  attitude  during  a  hot  factional  fight 
for  the  governorship  of  Pernambuco. 
Several  factions  were  in  the  field,  and 
the  excitement  boiled  up  into  riots.  This 
state  is  just  south  of  the  president's  own 
state,  and  he  has  many  relatives  there. 
He  was  appealed  to  in  the  belief  that  he 
would  come  to  the  aid  of  his  relatives, 
and  asked  to  intervene  with  federal  mili- 
tary forces.  In  one  way  such  interven- 
tion could  have  been  interpreted  as 
merely  keeping  order,  but  in  another  way 
it  might  have  amounted  to  taking  sides 
with  a  given  faction.  "Epitacio"  did 
not  side  with  his  cousins,  and  neither  did 
he  intervene  with  the  army,  and  when 
this  stand  had  been  taken  the  trouble 
quickly  bubbled  down  again. 

Doctor  Pessoa's  honesty,  ability,  ex- 
perience, character  and  patriotism  are 
unquestioned,  and  his  rise  to  power  has 
aroused  high  hopes  in  other  Latin-Ameri- 
can countries. 

In  carrying  out  his  policies  he  will 
enjoy  a  certain  prestige  accorded  to  the 
president  of  Brazil  from  the  days  of  the 
empire.  The  deference  paid  to  the  execu- 
tive reflects  that  formerly  paid  to  the  per- 


son of  the  emperor  and  is  found  in  no 
other  Latin-American  republic.  When 
the  president  goes  to  the  railway  station 
for  even  a  suburban  trip,  his  whole  cabi- 
net goes  to  say  a  formal  farewell,  and 
receives  him  in  the  same  way  when  he 
returns. 

This  is  a  definite  advantage  in  carry- 
ing out  policies,  and  if  he  also  has  the 
backing  of  Congress  and  the  political 
powers  in  the  influential  states  in  put- 
ting through  the  constructive  projects  he 
has  already  outlined,  there  should  be 
happy  days  ahead  of  Brazil — days  of  de- 
velopment and  prosperity  when  the  trial 
balances  will  show  dividends. 


ARTICLE  XLIII 

THEFTS  FROM  SHIPMENTS 
TO  BRAZIL  ARE  COMMON 

J^IO    DE    JANEIRO,    Nov.    26.— 
Somebody  passed  a  counterfeit  Bra- 
zilian bank  note  on  an  American  in  Rio 
de  Janeiro. 

"Never  mind — I'll  get  rid  of  it,"  he 
said. 

"Let  me  have  it."  said  a  friend  who 
was  with  him.  "I'll  take  it  down  to 
the  American  Bank  Note  Company's 
office  and  they'll  give  me  its  face  value." 

This  was  done,  and  the  company  was 
glad  to  buy  a  new  counterfeit  for  study. 

Pretty  much  all  the  paper  money  of 
Brazil  is  printed  in  the  United  States, 
and  has  been  for  many  years,  along  with 
Brazilian  postage  and  revenue  stamps 
and  Brazilian  bonds.  The  purchase  of 
counterfeits  at  face  value  simply  illus- 
trates the  safeguards  thrown  around 
Brazilian  money  by  this  American  com- 
pany. Naturally,  it  would  not  buy  all 
the  counterfeits  offered,  but  it  is  glad 
to  buy  samples,  and  where  the  counter- 
feit is  especially  good  makes  a  detailed 
study  by  throwing  an  enlargement  upon 
a  screen,  warns  the  banks  and  co-op- 
erates with   the   police   authorities. 

Latin  America  offers  certain  advan- 
tages to  the  counterfeiter  because  he  can 
set  up  shop  in  one  republic,  make  the 
money  of  another  country  and  sell  it  to 
people  who  put  it  into  circulation,  so 
that  he  himself  runs  little  of  the  risk. 
With  the  development  of  photographic 
reproduction  methods  counterfeiting  has 
become  easier  than  when  engraving  was 


necessary  and  a  counterfeiter  spent  weeks 
making  one  plate.  But  the  industry  for- 
tunately has  its  disadvantages.  The 
equipment  required  is  elaborate  and  can- 
not be  usually  hidden,  while  it  costs  so 
much  that  a  man  with  capital  sufficient 
for  counterfeiting  might  just  as  well  go 
into  some  other  industry. 

U.  S.  MAKES  THEIR  MONEY 

jV/IAKING  money  and  postage  stamps 
for  the  Latin-American  countries  is 
a  large  industry,  with  keen  competition 
among  American,  British,  French  and 
Italian  concerns,  as  well  as  government 
printing  establishments  in  the  Latin- 
American  countries.  The  American 
company  has  been  very  successful  in 
holding  Brazil  as  a  customer  against 
cheaper  work  obtainable  elsewhere,  be- 
cause its  product  offers  better  protection 
against  counterfeiting.  For  one  thing 
it  prints  money  on  the  same  paper  that  is 
used  for  our  own  currency.  For  another 
it  relies  upon  fine  steel  engraving  to  put 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  counterfeiters, 
whereas  European  printers  rely  more 
upon  water  marks  and  devices  which 
American  experience  has  shown  inade- 
quate. Added  to  these,  there  is  a  rigid 
system  of  counting  and  inspection  in  the 
company's  New  York  plant,  so  that  theft 
or  loss  of  money  through  employes  is 
very  difficult.  In  fact,  when  Brazil  buys 
her  money  of  us  she  gets  a  first-rate  arti- 
cle— as  well  made,  durable  and  safe  as 
our  own. 

Pilfering  of  merchandise  from  ship- 
ments going  into  Latin  America  has  be- 
come so  common  recently  that  United 
States  Consul  General  Raeberle,  at  Rio 
de  Janeiro,  is  taking  steps  to  have  Ameri- 
can manufacturers  "fiscalize"  their  ship- 
ments before  they  leave  factories.  These 
thefts  occur  in  shipments  from  Eng- 
land and  Europe  as  well  as  the  United 
States,  and  investigation  gives  ground 
for  suspecting  that  they  are  committed  by 
well-organized  gangs  in  Latin-Ameri- 
can countries,  and  probably  other  gangs 
in  countries  from  which  shipments  are 
made.  Boxes  arrive  apparently  intact, 
but  with  valuable  goods  missing,  and  re- 
placed with  bricks  or  stones  wrapped  in 
newspapers.  Now  these  will  be  New 
York  newspapers,  and  again  those  of  the 
Latin-American  port  where  goods  are 
received.  Goods  checked  and  packed  by 
trustworthy  employes  in  the  United 
States  and  delivered  intact  to  steamship 
piers  have  been  found  short  on  arrival. 
Again,  goods  intact  on  arrival  have 
been  pilfered  after  unloading.  In  still 
other  instances  losses  have  evidently  oc- 
curred on  steamers  or  in  customs.  Short- 
ages are  so  common  today  that  in  Brazil, 
at  least,  the  receipts  for  goods  under- 
going inspection  in  the  customs  house 
are  so  worded  as  to  relieve  the  govern- 
ment of  responsibility  for  shortages.  By 
"fiscalizing"  all  shipments  before  they 
leave   the    factory,    American    manufac- 


BRAZIL 


89 


turers  can  assist  in  running  down  a  wide- 
spread system  of  theft.  Goods  should 
be  carefully  checked  and  packed  by  re- 
sponsible employes.  There  is  good  rea- 
son to  believe  that  some  pilfering  is  done 
in  shipping  rooms.  If  the  shipper  is  cer- 
tain that  consignments  leave  his  prem- 
ises intact,  that  will  eliminate  some  of 
the  ground  to  be  covered  in  tracing 
thefts,  aid  his  customers  abroad,  and  be 
evidence  of  his  own  skill  and  good  faith 
in  filling  orders. 

Quite  a  number  of  American  business 
men,  leaving  suddenly  for  Brazil,  have 
found  that  information  about  what  to 
wear  was  hard  to  obtain  in  the  United 
States,  being  one  of  the  little  details  so 
simple  that  it  is  overlooked  altogether. 
Consequently  they  arrived  in  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro equipped  for 
the  tropics,  but 
without  an  over- 
coat, or  with  heavy 
clothing,  but  short 
of  light  things. 

CLIMATE  IS 
VARIABLE 

REAVING  the 
United  States 
in  summer,  the 
lightest  possible 
clothing  will  be 
needed  through  the 
tropics,  and  then 
light  woolen  suits 
after  crossing  the 
equator,  changing 
to  a  warm  winter 
suit  in  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro, where  the 
weather  is  then 
cool.  Interior  cit- 
ies like  Sao  Paulo, 
in  the  mountains, 
make  overcoats 
necessary  and 
sometimes  furs 
comfortable  be- 
cause hotels  and 
houses  are  unheat- 
ed,  Leaving  the 
United    States    in 

winter,  heavy  clothing  is  needed  at  the 
start,  gradually  changing  to  light  wash" 
suits  in  the  Brazilian  summer.  Our  Palm 
Beach  suits  are  comfortable.  The  Bra- 
zilians wear  even  lighter  suits  of  pongee 
silk.  If  a  stop  is  made  at  Barbados,  the 
traveler  can  take  a  tip  from  Yankee  sea 
captains  and  have  white  linen  wash  suits 
made  up — linen  comes  into  Barbados  free 
of  duty,  and  tailors  make  clothes  to 
measure  almost  overnight. 

Many  Brazilians,  like  Spaniards  in 
the  tropics,  wear  black  wash  suits  in- 
stead of  white,  having  evidently  found 
through  several  centuries  of  experience 
that  black  turns  the  penetrating  actinic 
sun  rays  which  play  such  havoc  with 
white  people.  For  traveling  in  the  in- 
terior a  hammock  and  mosquito  netting 


are  necessary  for  comfort,  keeping  one's 
own  clean  bed  out  of  reach  of  the  swarm- 
ing insect  life  for  which  Brazil  is  fa- 
mous. Evening  clothes  are  widely  used 
and  should  be  taken.  A  morning  coat 
and  silk  "topper"  are  often  handy.  Latin 
America  is  neither  particularly  wild  nor 
particularly  hot.  Rough  and  ready  clothes 
are  needed  for  country  travel,  but  people 
in  the  cities  dress  as  formally  as  in  Lon- 
don or  Paris — much  more  so  than  our- 
selves. Even  in  the  tropics  one  may 
quickly  pass  from  sweltering  heat  to  cool 
weather  by  climbing  up  the  mountains 
to  an  interior,  capital,  while  along  the 
west  coast,  with  its  cold  Humboldt  cur- 
rent and  great  altitudes,  it  is  never  safe 
to  be  without  heavy  underclothing  or 
overcoat. 


ONE    OP    SAO    PAULO'S    BUSIEST    STREETS 

FROM  RUBBER  TO  CATTLE 

TPHE  Brazilian  Government  believes  in 
advertising,  and  from  time  to  time 
issues  publications  in  English  giving  facts 
about  the  country.  Before  the  war  it  had 
begun  the  publication  of  a  book  which 
appeared  every  two  years,  but  war  in- 
terfered with  this  volume,  as  it  was 
printed  in  England,  and  "Brazil  in  1913" 
was  the  last  issue.  For  the  United  States 
there  was  recently  published  a  hand- 
book, entitled  "What  Brazil  Buys  and 
Sells,"  with  general  information  about 
the  country  turned  into  dollars,  tons  and 
miles.  Such  publications  are  sent  to 
newspapers  and  public  officials,  as  well  as 
distributed  through  Brazilian  consuls. 

Brazil  has  one  consul  in  the  United 
States  just  now  who  is  doing  a  great 


deal  to  make  his  country  known  in  the 
right  way.  This  is  Sevastiao  Sampato, 
stationed  in  St.  Louis.  Writing  and 
speaking  to  the  corn  belt,  with  its  agri- 
cultural viewpoint,  he  puts  Brazil  before 
people  in  the  plainest  corn-belt  terms, 
showing  that  this  South  American  coun- 
try, assumed  to  be  so  strange  and  far 
off,  is  turning  from  rubber  and  coffee  to 
cattle  raising  and  packing  houses;  that  it 
is  not  a  jungle,  but  an  undeveloped  corn 
belt  waiting  for  farmers,  and  that,  like 
every  one-crop  region  in  our  own  coun- 
try, it  needs  diversified  farming  for  per- 
manent prosperity. 

The  American  Chamber  of  Commerce 
in  Rio  de  Janeiro  has  recently  suggested 
that  the  Brazilian  Government  print  a 
much  larger  edition  of  its  next  handbook 
in  English,  and 
that  this  be  dis- 
tributed among 
business  men  in  the 
United  States 
through  our  wide- 
spread Chamber 
of  Commerce  or- 
ganization. It  is 
believed  that  such 
distribution  by  our 
own  business 
men  from  our 
own  business 
viewpoint  would 
add  greatly  to  the 
value  of  the  book 
for  both  the  Bra- 
zilians and  our- 
selves. As  a  great 
many  inquiries 
would  be  received 
from  people  seek- 
ing more  informa- 
tion about  Brazil, 
it  is  also  suggested 
that  our  Chamber 
of  Commerce  in 
Brazil  either  an- 
swer these  inqui- 
ries directly  or  co- 
operate with  the 
government  i  n 
handling  them,  so  that  information  be 
given  with  a  knowledge  of  the  United 
States  as  well  as  Brazil. 


ARTICLE  XLIV 

HAMPERING  WORLD  TRADE 
THROUGH  THE  INCOME  TAX 

■RIO    DE    JANEIRO,    Nov.    29.— 
Everybody    agrees    that    we    want 
more  broad-gauge  Americans  of  execu- 
tive caliber  in  world  markets. 

An  American  of  that  character  came 
home  from  Argentina,  where  he  has  been 
building  business  for  his  country.  After 
a  visit,  starting  back,  he  found  that  he 
needed  an  embarkation  permit  to  get 
out  of  the  United  States.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  produce  his  income  tax  receipt. 
Having  been  abroad  since  the  income  tax 


90 


BRAZIL 


started,  he  had  never  made  returns. 
Uncle  Sam  demanded  $12,000  to  let 
him  out  of  the  country.  By  declaring  his 
intention  of  becoming  an  Argentine  citi- 
zen in  New  York  he  could  have  obtained 
his  permit  gratis.  But  he  values  his 
citizenship,  and  so  wrote  a  $12,000 
check. 

An  Argentine  lad  in  the  employ  of  an 
American  company  on  the  southern  con- 
tinent came  north  when  we  entered  the 
war,  volunteered  for  the  army,  fought 
in  a  machine  gun  company  at  Chateau- 
Thierry  and  St.  Mihiel  and  was  mus- 
tered out  in  the  United  States  last  April. 
Returning  to  his  sales  territory,  he  found 
that  Uncle  Sam  wanted  income  tax  for 
the  time  he  had  spent  in  the  United 
States,  including  his  terms  of  service  in 
the  army,  although  he  is  an  Argentine 
citizen. 

In  Rio  de  Janeiro  there  is  a  Spanish 
citizen  connected  with  an  American  cor- 
poration who,  largely  through  his  own 
efforts,  has  made  it  very  successful  in 
Brazil.  He  has  never  been  to  the  United 
States.  Last  year  our  government  col- 
lected from  him  $20,000  under  the  in- 
come tax  regulations — not  the  basic  law, 
but  simply  on  a  treasury  ruling. 

TOO  MUCH  RED  TAPE 

AN  AMERICAN  doing  business  in 
Argentina  visited  the  United  States, 
and  when  asked  about  income  tax  stated 
that  he  had  paid  faithfully,  but  had  never 
been  accorded  the  courtesy  of  a  receipt. 
His  payments  had  been  made  in  his  own 
southern  state.  Before  he  could  leave 
the  country  it  was  necessary  to  make  a 
personal  visit  to  that  state,  at  a  cost  of 
$200  and  the  loss  of  several  days'  time, 
and  also  his  steamship  passage,  because 
only  a  personal  visit  was  effective  in  se- 
curing the  necessary  receipt — letters  and 
telegrams  brought  no  action  from  the 
revenue  officials. 

Other  incidents  of  the  same  kind  might 
be  added,  for  they  are  occurring  wherever 
Americans  do  business  abroad.  The  sub- 
ject is  being  discussed  everywhere  and  is 
clearly  one  which  must  soon  be  taken  up 
intelligently  for  settlement  on  a  basis  of 
simple  justice  and  the  elimination  of 
government  red  tape  or  grave  harm  will 
be  done  to  American  world-trade  inter- 
ests. 

Government  red  tape  is  the  first  out- 
standing handicap.  Thousands  upon 
thousands  of  Americans  who  pay  their 
income  tax  both  at  home  and  abroad  have 
never  been  given  receipts.  The  writer 
knows  by  experience  that  nothing  short 
of  a  personal  visit  to  the  office  where  in- 
come tax  has  been  paid  will  secure  the 
necessary  receipt  in  reasonable  time. 
Where  the  revenue  office  happens  to  be 
remote,  all  the  expense  and  work  of  se- 
curing the  receipt,  like  .everything  else 
connected  with  our  income  tax,  is  shifted 
to  the  citizen  who  pays,  regardless  of  the 
value  of  his  time  or  his  business.   Count- 


ARBEST   OP  BOLSHEVIK  IN 
BIO    DE   JANEIBO 


less  petty  regulations  crop  up  to  ham- 
per international  business — an  operation 
once  so  simple  as  depositing  a  bond  cou- 
pon may  now  involve  two  or  three 
months'  wait  and  correspondence  and 
perhaps  a  power  of  attorney  if  the  bonds 
are  in  the  United  States  and  the  owner 
in  South  America.  Feeling  on  this  sub- 
ject is  so  strong  in  Latin  America  that 
organizations  of  American  business  men 
are  taking  steps  to  lay  the  matter  before 
our  governmnet. 

Then  there  is  the  question  of  expense. 
Thousands  of  American  business  men  are 
now  going  abroad  to  establish  our  world- 
trade  organization.  Many  of  them  are 
young  fellows  on  moderate  salaries  who 
see  the  value  of  business  experience 
abroad  as  training  for  earning  capacity 
later  in  life.  They  count  salary  secon- 
dary, and  rightly.  But  living  expenses  in 
other  countries  are  usually  higher  than 
at  home,  and  if  one  is  married  it  takes 
close  calculation  and  sometimes  sacrifice. 
Income  tax  is  not  only  an  added  expense, 
but  perhaps  represents  money  which 
would  otherwise  be  invested  in  life  in- 
surance protection.  With  longer  experi- 
ence in  income  tax  administration,  Great 
Britain  and  France,  realizing  the  value 
of  their  citizens  building  trade  abroad, 
have  provided  exemptions. 

LATIN  AMERICA  GETTING  HABIT 

TROUBLE  taxation  is  another  phase  of 

the     subject.       Many     Americans 

abroad   reside   in   countries  where   they 

must  pay  income  tax,  and  even  the  Latin- 


American  countries  are  now  considering 
the  adoption  of  such  taxes.  One  Ameri- 
can in  Argentina,  in  business  for  him- 
self, after  a  prosperous  year  had  to  pay 
64  per  cent  of  his  income  to  our  govern- 
ment. Had  there  been  an  Argentine  in- 
come tax  he  might  have  been  compelled 
to  pay  more  than  100  per  cent  of  his  in- 
come to  both  governments,  as  in  the  fa- 
mous case  of  Mr.  Astor,  in  England, 
whose  taxes  last  year  exceeded  his  in- 
come, and  who  was  declared  by  a  British 
Government  official  "simply  unfor- 
tunate" ! 

Under  our  income  tax  as  now  admin- 
istered Americans  abroad  are  taxed  with- 
out representation,  because  unable  to  vote 
during  their  absence  from  the  country. 
However,  in  this  case  they  are  no  worse 
off  than  thousands  of  traveling  Ameri- 
cans at  home  who  cannot  vote  simply 
because  election  day  finds  them  at  an  in- 
convenient distance  from  the  town  pump. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  there  was 
rather  a  lively  disturbance  over  taxation 
without  representation  from  1776  to 
1783. 

Federal  income  tax  on  Americans  en- 
gaged in  world  trade  is  also  discussed  in 
terms  of  paying  for  something  not  ac- 
tually delivered.  If  an  American  abroad 
owns  property  in  the  United  States  he 
enjoys  direct  government  advantages, 
such  as  police  protection,  and  should 
clearly  pay  for  government  service.  But 
while  our  federal  government  renders 
some  service  to  him  while  abroad,  and 
perhaps  protection  in  trouble,  many  who 
discuss  the  subject  feel  that  less  service 
is  rendered,  and  that  Americans  abroad 
should  be  taxed  less  heavily,  if  at  all. 

Our  income  tax  system  does  not  yet 
work  smoothly,  nor  with  justice,  and  is 
often  irritating  in  its  regulation  and  ad- 
ministration. Viewed  from  another 
country,  it  appears  to  have  been  planned 
and  to  be  applied  entirely  from  the  view- 
point of  people  at  home.  Blanks  for 
making  returns  are  often  unobtainable 
at  our  consulates  in  other  countries,  and 
routine  is  complicated  by  distance.  Yet 
should  an  American  wish  to  leave  an- 
other country  nowadays,  red  tape  is 
wound  round  him  at  our  consulate  or 
embassy,  which  will  not  issue  a  pass- 
port unless  he  can  produce  income  tax 
receipts,  which  are  probably  weeks  away 
in  the  mails,  if  they  have  been  sent  at  all. 

TAX  METHODS  DANGEROUS 

TTHERE  is  a  real  danger  that,  if  good 
business  methods  are  not  applied  to 
income  tax  administration,  many  of  our 
world-trade  interests  will,  like  our  mer- 
chant marine  in  pre-war  days,  be  trans- 
ferred to  foreign  flags  by  incorporation 
abroad ;  and  in  many  cases  transfer  of 
citizenship  to  other  countries  is  a  dis- 
tinct advantage. 

World  trade  in  most  countries  is  car- 
ried on  under  grave  handicaps  of  taxa- 


BRAZIL 


91 


tion  and  red  tape.  For  instance,  the 
American  going  to  Brazil  to  represent 
one  of  our  business  houses  on  the  spot, 
and  finding  that  his  company  must  be 
domesticated  before  it  has  a  legal  status, 
encounters*  the  following  expenses  and 
routine: 

Stamp  tax  for  decree  of  authorization, 
$75 ;  $2  tax  per  $1000  on  capital  used 
in  the  business;  $20  registry  tax  for  docu- 
ments; expense  of  publishing  documents 
in  government  journal;  expense  of  offi- 
cially translating  documents;  commis- 
sion on  temporary  deposit  of  one-tenth 
of  capital  devoted  to  the  business  in  Bra- 
zil in  government  bank;  special  yearly 
taxes  by  federal  and  r.tate  governments 
on  the  business,  according  to  its  charac- 
ter, upon  rent  paid  for  business  prem- 
ises, on  salaries,  signs  and  in  other 
ways. 

In  Argentina  likewise  business  ex- 
penses are  increased  and  business  facility 
hampered  by  many  different  taxes  and 
regulations.  One  may  be  taxed  $25  a 
month  by  the  municipality  today  as 
owner  of  the  place  where  he  does  busi- 
ness, and  pay  again  tomorrow  as  occu- 
pier of  the  premises,  and  if  the  govern- 
ment fails  to  send  him  a  bill  and  he  over- 
looks a  certain  tax  on  a  certain  date  there 
will  be  a  fine  as  well.  A  ten-cent  sample 
of  merchandise  sent  him  from  New  York 
by  parcel  post  may  take  several  hours' 
time  running  between  the  postofHce  and 
the  customs  house,  and  cost  a  couple  of 
dollars  for  stamps  on  official  documents. 
And  so  it  goes  day  by  day. 

With  taxes  and  tariffs  and  licenses  and 
stamps  and  travel  regulations  the  gov- 
ernments of  the  world  during  the  last 
five  years  have  intricately  enmeshed  the 
business   man.      Where   there   was   one 


government  requirement  before  the  war, 
there  are  now  a  dozen,  arid  against  one 
government  official  in  the  old  days  of 
business  facility  there  are  now  two  or 
three.  Government  officials  everywhere 
seem  to  regard  the  business  man  as  their 
particular  prey.  Government  regula- 
tions are  not  made  to  fit  business  in  terms 
of  facility  and  service;  on  the  contrary, 
business  and  the  business  man  must  be 
made  to  fit  the  regulations.  In  all  coun- 
tries it  is  difficult  to  do  business  at  home, 
but  when  one  goes  abroad  the  complica- 
tions multiply.  The  American  engaged 
in  world  trade  today  is  practically  pen- 
alized and  put  at  a  disadvantage  with  his 
competitors  of  other  countries  by  the 
inflexibility  of  laws  and  regulations  ad- 
ministered wholly  from  the  domestic 
viewpoint. 


ARTICLE  XLV 

"GROPING"  FOR  BUSINESS 
IS  ERROR  OF  EXPORTERS 

DIO  DE  JANEIRO,  Nov.  31.— A 
corn-belt  manufacturer  dictated  a 
circular  letter  one  gloomy  winter  morn- 
ing. Sales  were  as  dull  as  the  weather. 
Reading  a  trade  journal  article  that  pic- 
tured the  possibilities  for  sales  in  other 
countries,  he  decided  to  branch  out  in 
Latin  America.  His  letter  was  very 
short.  It  said  he  made  powdered  but- 
termilk ;  that  he  wondered  if  it  could  be 


sold  to  Latin-American  bakers;  that  he 
would  like  to  know  what  kind  of  breads 
were  baked  in  Argentina,  Ecuador,  Cuba 
and  so  on;  likewise  whether  butter  was 
made  in  those  countries;  likewise  what 
was  done  with  the  buttermilk.  He  told 
Tilly,  the  stenographer,  to  get  the  atlas 
and  send  a  copy  of  this  letter  to  Ameri- 
can chambers  of  commerce  in  each  coun- 
try. 

When  his  letter  reached  the  various 
chambers  of  commerce  some  weeks  later 
they  did  various  things,  according  to 
their  facilities.  Some  put  it  on  a  bulle- 
tin board  so  members  could  see  a  pow- 
dered buttermilk  manufacturer  at  home 
was  seeking  trade.  Others  published  a 
brief  reference  in  their  bulletin.  Still 
others  may  have  had  time  to  make  per- 
sonal inquiries  about  local  baking  math- 
ods. 

The  corn-belt  manufacturer  was  grop- 
ing dimly.  Not  understanding  exactly 
what  he  wanted,  his  letter  gave  little 
information  upon  which  to  make  a  real 
investigation.  When  it  reached  commer- 
cial chambers  of  commerce  secretaries 
or  United  States  consuls  abroad  they 
had  to  grope,  too. 

There  is  much  of  this  vague  groping 
being  done  all  the  time  in  world  mar- 
kets. American  export  and  import 
houses  are  constantly  circularizing  the 
world,  seeking  trade  through  form  let- 
ters, and  not  even  taking  the  trouble  to 
mention  the  kind  of  trade  they  want  to 
handle.  American  buyers  of  foreign  prod- 
ucts grope  for  new  channels  of  supply 
in  the  same  vague  way.  The  collection 
man  gropes.  Writing  to  Rio  de  Janeiro 
he  asks  that  somebody  there  run  out  to 
Manaos  and  get  some  money  from  a  cus- 
tomer— he  has  heard  that  Manaos  is  in 


PARADE    OF  BRAZILIAN   TROOPS 


92 


BRAZIL 


Brazil,  but  does  not  know  that  it  is  on 
the  Amazon,  five  weeks  away.  The  ad- 
vertising man  gropes — some  time  ago 
an  American  automobile  was  advertised 
in  Rio  de  Janeiro  newspapers,  and  cus- 
tomers were  referred  to  the  agent  at 
Quito,  Ecuador,  which  is  as  far  from 
that  capital  as  San  Francisco  from  New 
York. 

GROPING  AT  HOME  AND  ABROAD 

J?  VERY  Latin-American  port  has  its 
stranded  American  salesmen,  who 
have  been  sent  out  to  get  orders  and  left 
high  and  dry,  without  remittances,  their 
cables  and  letters  unanswered,  their  or- 
ders unheeded,  pathetic  victims  of  spas- 
modic groping  at  home — somebody 
warmed  to  world  trade  and  then  cooled, 
or  one  executive's  initiative  in  sending  a 
man  abroad  checkmated  by  another  after 
he  had  sailed. 

Even  the  curiosity  seeker  gropes,  and 
Americans  abroad  receive  letters  from 
the  lady  who  is  to  read  a  paper  on  Ar- 
gentina next  week  at  the  Woman's  Club, 
and  writes  to  Buenos  Aires  for  informa- 
tion, her  letter  arriving  a  month  after 
the  meeting.  Perhaps  the  prize  for 
groping  might  be  awarded  to  Uncle  Sam 
himself,  who  during  the  war  cabled  to 
Rio  de  Janeiro  that  no  ship  must  leave 
a  port  in  Brazil  until  the  naval  attache 
there  could  compare  its  passenger  list 
with  his  list  of  enemy  suspects — which 
would  mean  that  a  ship  at  Para  must 
wait  a  week  until  he  could  get  there, 
and  a  ship  in  Santos  perhaps  three  months 
while  he  went  up  to  Manaos  and  re- 
turned. 

One  organization  of  American  busi- 
ness men  abroad  is  now  taking  steps  to 
deal  with  this  groping  in  a  constructive 
way,  sifting  out  from  every  hundred 
vague  inquiries  the  one  which  looks  like 
business  and  putting  under  it  a  solid 
business  foundation.  This  is  the  Ameri- 
can Chamber  of  Commerce  for  Brazil, 
established  in  1916  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  the 
first  organization  of  its  kind  on  the 
southern  continent,  and  the  plan  is  being 
worked  out  by  Paul  C.  Trimble,  its 
manager,  who  has  had  twelve  years'  ex- 
perience in  Uncle  Sam's  consular  service. 

When  an  inquiry  about  the  market 
for  powdered  buttermilk  is  received,  for 
example,  an  effort  will  be  made  to  give 
the  inquiring  manufacturer  a  definite 
picture  of  possibilities,  provided  he  has 
been  fairly  definite  in  seeking  informa- 
tion. A  visit  to  two  or  three  local  bak- 
ers would  show  that  they  use  fresh  but- 
termilk from  the  creameries  in  the  neigh- 
boring state  of  Minas  Geraes,  where 
dairying  and  butter  making  are  estab- 
lished industries.  Costs  and  qualities 
will  be  ascertained,  as  well  as  opinions 
concerning  the  substitution  of  powdered 
buttermilk.  Then  the  manufacturer  at 
home  will  be  advised  to  take  further 
steps  if  he  believes  his  product  can  com- 


pete in  price  or  has  advantages  in  qual- 
ity and  convenience. 

This  picture  of  possibilities  will  be 
made  definite  for  two  reasons — to  give 
him  something  concrete  upon  which  to 
work  if  he  really  means  business,  and  to 
forestall  further  groping  if  his  inquiry 
was  idle. 

WORK  AND  TIME  REQUIRED 

TN  SUCH  a  case  he  will  probably  be 
told  that  if  price  or  other  considera- 
tions seem  to  make  the  Brazilian  market 
feasible,  he  must  put  into  the  project  an 
honest  contribution  of  money,  time  and 
teamwork.  Samples  of  his  product 
should  be  forwarded  to  Rio  de  Janeiro 
for  test  by  two  or  three  of  the  leading 
bakers.  These  tests,  supervised  by  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  or  an  import  rep- 
resentative, will  involve  some  outlay. 
which  he  should  pay.  If  the  bakers  like 
his  stuff,  then  a  local  selling  agent  can 
be  found.  This  agent  will  require  a 
stock  of  goods  and  a  decent  appropria- 
tion for  sales  work  and  advertising. 
Probably  methods  of  advertising  can  be 
suggested,  such  as  circulars  to  bakers, 
samples,  personal  visits  and  demonstra- 
tions— the  outlay  for  such  work  may  not 
be  great,  but  will  be  necessary.  The 
manufacturer  will  be  shown  that  time  is 
also  needed — he  cannot  expect  sales  in 
any  volume  for  a  year  or  more,  and  dur- 
ing that  period  must  hang  on  with  de- 
termination, make  regular  shipments  of 
goods  and  take  hold  of  the  undeveloped 
Brazilian  demand  as  he  would  take  hold 
of  Omaha  or  Atlanta.  If  he  has  merely 
hoped  to  get  a  few  chance  world-trade 
bites  through  circulars,  at  no  cost  or 
trouble,  he  will  drop  out  long  before  this 
stage  is  reached,  and  American  trade 
abroad  will  be  better  for  his  defection. 
But  if  he  really  sticks,  and  puts  money, 
time  and  teamwork  into  the  product, 
there  is  probably  a  place  for  him  in  world 
markets,  and  his  fellow-Americans  in 
Brazil  want  to  help  him  occupy  it. 

Another  illustration :  A  wholesale 
house  in  the  Mississippi  valley  writes  to 
ask  how  it  can  make  direct  purchases  in 
Brazil  of  rubber,  coffee,  hides  and  skins, 
beeswax  and  Brazil  nuts.  Hardly  any 
information  is  given  concerning  its  pres- 
ent purchasing  methods  or  the  volume  of 
business  handled.  This  may  be  merely 
an  inquiry  from  some  inland  merchant 
who  thinks  it  possible  to  secure  Brazil- 
ian products  direct  at  a  saving  over  pur- 
chases through  established  importers 
from  whom  he  has  been  buying.  Or  on 
the  other  hand  he  may  be  an  importer, 
buying   from   other   countries   and    now 


seeking  Brazalian  connections.  Perhaps 
he  is  just  groping,  and  a  definite  picture 
will  stop  him.  But  if  he  handles  volume 
and  means  business,  the  same  picture  will 
furnish  a  basis  for  action. 
MARKET  ENTRANCE  NOT  EASY 
TN  THIS  case  the  picture  willl  be  de- 
cidedly composite.  The  purchase  of 
rubber  cannot  be  recommended,  because 
it  is  organized  in  volume  by  big  Ameri- 
can manufacturing  interests.  Coffee 
offers  opportunities  only  to  those  who  can 
purchase  shiploads.  Hides  and  skins 
offer  some  opportunities,  but  are  also 
well  organized.  Brazil  nuts,  beeswax  and 
the  similar  specialties  of  Brazil  may  be 
secured  in  moderate  quantities  through 
good  representatives. 

The  Mississippi  valley  wholesaler  will 
need,  first  of  all,  good  facilities  in  New 
York  or  New  Orleans  for  importing 
produce.  He  must  also  have  representa- 
tion in  Brazil  at  two  points  at  least — 
Para  for  Brazil  nuts  and  goat  skins  and 
Rio  de  Janeiro  for  hides,  coffee  and 
beeswax.  Representation  at  Para,  Rio 
de  Janeiro,  Sao  Paulo  and  Porto  Alegre 
would  cover  the  territory  better. 

Really  his  competition  in  buying  is 
much  stiffer  than  would  be  the  case  were 
he  seeking  to  sell  manufactured  goods  in 
Brazil.  Therefore,  his  Brazilian  repre- 
sentatives must  be  capable  and  trust- 
worthy. It  is  not  possible  to  select  them 
at  a  distance,  nor  through  any  one  living 
in  Brazil.  Setting  up  his  buying  ma- 
chinery necessitates  sending  a  competent 
representative  to  visit  the  country.  Rail- 
road and  steamship  expenses  for  this  rep- 
resentative will  amount  to  fully  $1000, 
and  six  weeks'  traveling  in  Brazil,  at 
$250  to  $400  weekly,  including  the  sal- 
ary of  a  capable  man,  would  bring  the 
cost  up  to  approximately  $3000.  With 
a  picture  like  that,  composed  of  facts 
and  figures,  such  an  inquirer  would  no 
longer  grope.  Knowing  exactly  the  cost, 
both  of  going  further  with  the  deal  or 
staying  out,  he  could  intelligently  do  one 
thing  or  the  other. 

In  our  solicitude  for  world  trade  the 
past  few  years  there  has  been  a  tendency 
to  make  entrance  into  distant  markets 
appear  simple  and  easy ;  so  much  so  that 
thousands  of  American  business  men, 
looking  upon  world  trade  as  a  conveni- 
ent outlet  to  be  secured  without  much 
trouble,  have  been  set  groping.  Taking 
the  viewpoint  that  there  can  be  no  half- 
way measures  in  real  world  trade,  our 
Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro means  to  help  business  men  at  home 
crystallize  this  world-trade  proposition. 


ARTICLE  XLVI 

BRAZIL  AN  ALADDIN'S  LAMP 
GIVING  WEALTH  FOR  A  RUB 

RIO   DE  JANEIRO.    Dec.   2.— Do 
you     remember     the     messy     shoe 
"blacking"  of  your  boyhood? 

How  much   better   the  shoe  polishes 


BRAZIL 


93 


of  today — clean,  smooth,  resplendent  and 
almost  waterproof. 

Every  time  your  shoes  are  polished 
nowadays  you  use  a  product  of  Brazil— 
carnauba  wax.  The  carnauba  palm  is 
regarded  as  a  gift  of  Providence  in  the 
Amazon  states  of  Brazil,  because  it 
grows  by  thousands  along  the  rivers  and 
furnishes  a  money  crop  for  the  people. 
The  wax  is  gathered  from  a  powder, 
shaken  out  of  the  leaves  of  this  palm 
from  September  to  March,  1000  leaves 
yielding  an  "arroba,"  or  about  thirty 
pounds  of  wax.  Originally  carnauba 
wax  was  used  by  the  Brazilians  them- 
selves to  make  candles,  but  for  sixty 
years  manufacturers  all  over  the  world 
have  been  discovering  new  industrial  ap- 
plications. It  is  a  substitute  for  resin 
in  soap  making,  yields  picric  acid  for 
explosives,  makes  a  good  polish  for  fur- 
niture as  well  as  shoes,  a  good  varnish 
and  a  tasteless,  aseptic  ingredient  in  oint- 
ment and  pills. 

The  improvement  in  shoe  polish 
effected  through  study  and  adaptation  of 
this  product  is  an  illustration  of  whaf 
may  be  done  with  the  riches  of  Brazil 
when  your  factory  chemist,  engineer,  de- 
signer and  purchasing  agent  take  hold. 
The  carnauba  palm  contains  other  dor- 
mant industries — the  sap  yields  sugar, 
the  stem  starch,  the  roots  have  pharma- 
ceutical properties,  the  fibers  make 
cordage  and  the  wood  is  decay  and  in- 
sect proof. 

Brazil  is  not  merely  a  wonderland  of 
undeveloped  resources,  but  probably  the 
greatest  storehouse  of  diversified  wealth 
on  our  globe.  It  is  an  Aladdin's  lamp 
which  has  apparently  only  to  be  rubbed 
to  yield  whatever  humanity  happens  to 
want. 

ENDLESS  CHAIN  OF  WEALTH 

DROBABLY  your  chief  interest  in  Bra- 
zil has  been  along  the  line  of  selling 
your  goods  there. 

But  Brazil  is  of  far  greater  practical 
business  interest  if  you  look  at  it  from 
the  standpoint  of  raw  materials.  What 
does  it  hold  which  will  make  your  fac- 
tory products  cheaper,  better,  more  at- 
tractive and  salable  ?  Brazil  needs 
markets  to  develop  her  resources,  and 
we  need  more  tonnage  for  our  ships 
on  return  voyages.  If  your  stuff  is 
to  compete  in  the  Brazilian  mar- 
ket, don't  let  the  sales  department  mo- 
nopolize Brazil — put  the  purchasing 
agent  and  your  technical  men  on  the 
job. 

Just  look  at  the  country  on  the  map. 
You  will  see  that  Brazil  is  not  simply 
big,  but  that  it  extends  over  a  greater 
stretch  of  latitude  than  any  other  single 
country  in  the  world — from  four  de- 
grees north  of  the  equator  to  thirty- 
three  degrees  south.  In  terms  of  our 
own  country  that  means  from  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  to  the  middle  of  Ecuador,  with 
land  all  the  way,  rich  land  growing  cold- 


ueather  crops  by  latitude,  and  also  alti- 
tude on  mountain  slopes,  and  running 
from  wheat  and  wool  right  down  to 
tropical  products  which  grow  themselves 
and  have  only  to  be  harvested.  On  this 
soil  are  great  impenetrable  forests,  and 
beneath  the  soil  mineral  resources  of  in- 
conceivable diversity  and  richness. 

Eor  350  years  puny  man  has  been  liv- 
ing on  the  eastern  fringe  of  this  coun- 
try, gathering  such  things  as  from  time 
to  time  had  market  value,  leaving  the 
interior  hardly  explored,  much  less  de- 
veloped. From  time  to  time  the  mar- 
ket demands  change,  but  it  has  only 
been  necessary  to  begin  gathering  out 
of  the  inexhaustible  storehouse  something 
else  that  the  world  wanted. 

At  first  it  was  sugar,  raised  along  the 
coast  with  Indian  slaves,  and  for  a  hun- 
dred years  Brazil,  beyond  the  coast 
range,  was  an  unexplored  land  of  canni- 
bals, dwarfs,  two-headed  giants  and 
myths  generally.  The  need  for  more 
slaves  led  to  expeditions,  when  gold  and 
diamonds  were  found,  along  with  other 
things. 

THE  BIRTH  OF  RUBBER 

FOR  instance,  a  queer  kind  of  pot  was 
used  by  Indians  on  the  Amazon, 
made  from  the  milk  of  a  tree.  Taken  to 
Europe,  it  was  learned  that  a  chunk  of 
this  pot  rubbed  pencil  marks  off  paper, 
so  it  was  called  "rubber."  Then  an 
American  named  Goodyear,  one  of  the 
grandfathers  of  industrial  chemistry, 
found  out  how  to  turn  rubber  into  over- 
shoes and  raincoats,  and  Brazil  found 
a  ready  market  for  the  stuff  on  a  small 
scale.  Then  the  automobile  and  the 
rubber  tire  created  Detroit  and  Akron, 
and  demand  outgrew  Brazil's  supply, 
and  the  plantation  rubber  of  the  East 
Indies  furnished  the  required  volume, 
largely  because  Brazil  was  too  rich  in 
other  raw  materials  to  boost  the  supply 
up  to  the  demand. 

By  that  time  Brazil  was  growing  rich 
in  the  south,  rubbing  Aladdin's  lamp  for 
coffee.  Rubbed  too  hard,  the  lamp 
yielded  more  coffee  than  the  world  could 
drink  at  profitable  prices.  So  Brazil 
turned  to  beef  and  beans,  cotton  and 
corn,  manganese  and  monazite  sand. 
With  each  turn  of  world  demand  and 
production  she  rubs  the  lamp  elsewhere, 
and  her  genie  appears,  instant  and  obedi- 
ent, and  wealth  comes  in  some  other  form 
— so  easily  that  it  has  been  a  handicap 
in  the  development  of  the  country. 

Other  nations  have  rubbed  the  lamp, 
too,  and  will  again.  The  genie  is  par- 
ticularly benign  to  deserving  individuals 


like  the  American,  Charles  Goodyear, 
who  first  vulcanized  rubber,  and  the 
Englishman;  Henry  Wickham,  who  car- 
ried 70,000  rubber  seeds  from  Brazil 
to  London,  raised  seedlings,  and  estab- 
lished the  plantation  rubber  industry  in 
Ceylon. 

California  rubbed  the  lamp  and  got 
oranges.  For  virtually  all  the  oranges 
grown  in  that  state  are  descendants  of 
a  single  wild  tree  in  the  Brazilian  state 
of  Bahia.  California  with  its  60,000 
cars  of  oranges  yearly  can  now  teach 
Brazil  many  useful  things  about  the  fruit 
business.  For  while  Brazil  abounds  in 
delicious  fruits,  little  attention  has  been 
given  to  systematic  marketing,  so  that 
things  grown  in  the  suburbs  of  Rio  de 
Janeiro  cost  as  much,  or  maybe  twice 
and  three  times  as  much,  as  New  York 
pays  for  oranges  from  California,  grape- 
fruit from  Porto  Rico  and  bananas  from 
Central  America. 

GREAT  VEGETABLE  OIL  WEALTH 
A  GAIN  and  again  our  own  industries 
have  been  modified  by  something 
found  growing  wild  in  Brazil,  or  dug 
out  of  the  ground,  or  grown  by  the  easy 
Brazilian  farming  method — Yankees  say 
that  the  Brazilian  farmer  need  only 
throw  seed  into  the  air,  and  when  it 
comes  down  his  crop  is  ready,  and  ac- 
tually beans,  cotton,  corn  and  bananas 
are  found  all  growing  together  in  the 
same  field. 

Cotton  has  made  our  southern  states 
rich  and  given  us  almost  a  world  monop- 
oly. It  is  believed  that  the  finest  varie- 
ties of  cotton  we  grow,  including  Sea 
Island  and  also  the  Egyptian,  were  origi- 
nally found  in  Brazil. 

Just  the  other  day  we  sent  some 
American  doctors  to  Brazil  to  fight 
hookworm.  They  went  to  work  curing 
people  by  doses  of  thymol  oil,  which  hap- 
pened to  be  too  expensive,  considering 
the  vast  work  to  be  done.  But  oil  of 
chenopodium  is  just  as  good,  and  the 
Brazilian  countrysides  are  full  of  cheno- 
podium, growing  wild,  along  with  count- 
less other  drug  plants. 

In  the  florist's  window  you  see  or- 
chids, and  by  the  price  might  conclude 
that  somebody  has  built  a  profitable  in- 
dustry in  these  flowers.  Another  chap- 
ter in  the  past  of  Brazil — though  they 
are  now  an  expensive  staple  everywhere, 
Brazil  was  a  source  of  orchids  during 
the  years  when  people  were  learning  to 
transplant  and  grow  them  in  cool  coun- 
tries. 

"Brazil,  where  the  nuts  come  from," 
was  a  catchline  in  a  popular  farce  of  the 
days  when  shoes  were  blacked  instead  of 
polished — who  remembers  "Charlie's 
Aunt"? 

The  nuts  are  still  there  in  Brazil. 
Amazon  rubber  is  down  just  now,  but 
"nigger  toes"  are  bringing  record  prices, 
and  the  people  gather  those  instead. 
However,  they  .are  probably  a  minor  spe- 
cialty compared  with  the  oil  nuts  and 


94 


BRAZIL 


seeds  that  abound  in  the  same  sections  of 
Brazil,  and  which  await  the  investiga- 
tion of  men  like  those  who  developed 
our  cottonseed  oil  industry.  Turn  such 
a  man  loose  in  tropical  Brazil  with  some 
crushing  machinery  and  he  should  be  as 
happy  as  a  youngster  with  a  new  toy. 
Brazil's  wealth  in  vegetable  oil  is  so 
great  that  only  the  handiest  things  have 
been  developed.  Between  Bahia  and  the 
Amazon  she  has  100,000,000  cocoanut 
trees  each  producing  from  100  to  300 
nuts  yearly.  The  world's  appetite  for 
vegetable  oils  is  growing  enormously — 
our  own  importations  of  copra,  or  dried 
cocoanut  meat,  increased  ten-fold  dur- 
ing the  war.  The  Philippines  lead  in 
copra  production,  but  as  against  500,- 
000,000  pounds  a  year  which  we  import 
from  our  Pacific  territory  cocoanut  trees 
of  Brazil  would  yield  5,000,000,000 
pounds.  Little 
copra  is  made  in 
Brazil,  none  ex- 
po r  t  e  d,  and  a 
ripe  cocoanut 
costs  as  much 
in  Rio  de  Janeiro 
as  it  would  in 
New  York.  Then 
there  are  other 
neglected  vegetable 
oil  resources  on  a 
smaller  scale,  such 
as  the  "pinnao  de 
purga,"  or  purging 
seed,  a  Brazilian 
hedge  plant,  the 
seed  of  which  is 
taken  as  a  cathar- 
tic and  yields 
an  oil  good  for 
dressing  wounds 
and  also  for  il- 
luminating and  in- 
dustrial purposes. 

GUTTA  PERCHA  SUBSTITUTE 

HpHERE  are  fashions  in  furniture.  The 
black  walnut  and  rosewood  of  your 
boyhood  were  replaced  by  mahogany, 
and  that  by  quartered  oak,  and  that  by 
Circassian  walnut,  and  so  on.  Fashions 
in  furniture  are  the  life  of  great  Ameri- 
can industries.  In  the  hardwood  for- 
ests of  Brazil  you  can  find  future  furni- 
ture fashions,  along  with  railroad  ties 
resistant  to  insects  and  decays — some  of 
the  railroads  in  northern  Brazil  run  over 
ties  of  rosewood,  selected  because  that 
wood  is  abundant,  lasts  for  years  and 
has  not  yet  had  its  market  organized 
abroad. 

John  Bull  has  a  potential  monopoly 
in  ocean  cable  service  just  now  because 
gutta  percha  is  the  chief  insulating  sub- 
stance for  ocean  cable  and  comes  entirely 
from  the  British  East  Indies — and  is 
constantly  getting  scarcer.  In  its  "ba- 
lata"  Brazil  has  a  variety  of  rubber  that 


promises  to  be  the  only  perfected  substi- 
tute for  gutta  percha. 

The  list  might  be  lengthened  with  the 
pillow  lacemakers  of  the  northern  states, 
who  are  capable  of  being  organized  like 
the  cottage  workers  of  Europe  ;  the  starch 
and  other  such  common  Brazilian  crops 
as  the  mandioca,  which  yields  tapioca ; 
the  abundant  water-power  of  Brazil ;  her 
iron  deposits,  and  what  not. 


ARTICLE  XLVII 

SAO  PAULO  IS  BECOMING 
A  CHICAGO  COUNTERPART 

§AO  PAULO,  Dec.  5.— When  the 
contractors  got  ready  to  buy  5,000,- 
000  bricks  for  the  new  Armour  meat- 
packing plant  now  under  construction  in 
Sao  Paulo,  the  Brazilian  brick  makers 
threw  up  their  hands  in  astonishment. 
"But,  senhor!"  they  said,   "there  are 


RESTAURANT  IN-  RIO.   CHIEFLY  PATRONIZED    BY   MEMBERS    OF   THE    AMERICAN    COLONY 


not  that  many  bricks  in  the  world." 

And  when  persuaded  that  such  an  in- 
finity of  bricks  could  be  made,  they 
asked  a  higher  price  because  they  would 
have  to  make  so  many — it  was  going  to 
be  a  lot  of  trouble. 

When  this  plant  is  done  and  running 
in  the  summer  of  1920  it  will  be  the 
largest  individual  meat-packing  plant  in 
South  America,  and  it  will  also  be  a 
typical  piece  of  Chicago,  U.  S.  A.,  set 
down  in  the  Chicago  of  South  America. 

Our  Chicago  will  meet  its  Latin- 
American  counterpart  not  merely  on  a 
basis  of  bricks  but  of  enterprise. 

Just  now  the  bricks  loom  largest — 
there  are  more  than  12,000,000  going 
into  the  plant  all  told,  with  60,000  bar- 
rels of  cement,  3500  tons  of  structural 
steel,  8,000,000  feet  of  lumber,  500,000 
pounds  of  nails,  30,000  panes  of  glass, 
and  so  on.  There  will  be  capacity  for 
handling    1600   cattle,    6000   hogs    and 


2500  sheep  in  a  ten-hour  day,  with  freez- 
ing, cold  storage  and  loading  capacity 
to  put  a  shipload  of  meat  (12,000  car- 
casses) over  the  mountains  to  Santos  in 
about  forty-eight  hours. 

Sao  Paulo  is  used  to  big  things,  be- 
cause it  makes  millions  of  yards  of  cloth 
and  pairs  of  shoes  in  its  factories.  But 
this  is  easily  the  biggest  enterprise  that 
has  come  to  Brazil's  Chicago,  and  the 
large-handed  Chicago  way  of  ordering 
brick  and  planning  capacity  is  new. 

BRAZILIANS  GOOD  WORKERS 

f)NE  amusing  story  shows  that  the 
Brazilians  have  enterprise  of  their 
own  and  can  dispense  with  patronage 
from  us.  About  the  oldest  problem  of 
the  contractor  is  to  get  bricks  to  the  top 
of  a  wall.  Pharaoh  was  up  against  it  in 
building  the  pyramids.  Yankee  contrac- 
tors have  contrived  many  slick  mechani- 
cal devices  since  the  days  of  the  Irish- 
man and  the  hod. 
They  brought  the 
latest  with  them  to 
Sao  Paulo  and 
found  that  the 
Brazilians  played 
baseball  with  bricks 
faster  than  any 
machinery  could 
handle  them.  The 
game  is  played  by 
two  or  six  men, 
according  to  the 
height  of  the  wall 
under  construction. 
A  batsman  on  the 
ground  catches  a 
brick  on  a  wooden 
paddle,  tosses  it  to 
first  base,  it  flies 
to  the  next  man 
above,  and  the 
team  keeps  bricks 
moving  faster  than 
one  per  second, 
and  nobody  ever  saw  a  brick  muffed.  The 
Brazilians  are  also  splendid  trowelmen 
on  concrete  work  and  fine  carpenters, 
and  the  American  contractors  find  that 
they  take  readily  to  our  methods  of  push- 
ing a  big  job  by  teamwork. 

Some  people  believe  that  Mr.  Armour 
is  building  this  plant  on  misinformation. 
They  do  not  see  where  the  cattle,  hogs 
and  sheep  to  keep  it  going  can  be  found 
in  Brazil,  and  so  assume  that  some  opti- 
mist must  have  investigated  superficially 
and  sent  him  too  rosy  a  picture  of  the 
possibilities.  But  others  fully  believe 
that,  despite  its  large  capacity  and  its 
great  overhead  costs,  it  will  be  running 
full  tilt  within  a  reasonable  time  after 
opening. 

The  Brazilians  have  even  spread 
among  themselves  a  rumor  that  all  this 
"frigorifico.  business"  threatens  to  de- 
populate their  country  of  its  cattle. 


BRAZIL 


95 


There  is  not  much  fear  of  that,  for 
Brazil  has  30,000,000  head  of  cattle, 
20,000,000  head  of  hogs  and  10,000,000 
sheep,  standing  fourth  on  beef  in  the 
world.  India  is  first,  the  United  States 
second,  Russia  third  and  Argentina  fifth. 

It  is  not  a  question  of  quantity  but  of 
quality. 

EXPORTS  OF  MEAT 

TNTIL  the  European  war  Brazil  had 
never  exported  a  pound  of  fresh 
meat.  She  was  a  meat-producing  coun- 
try, with  enormous  home  consumption. 
The  Brazilian  farmer  eats  vast  quanti- 
ties of  fresh  pork,  and  people  in  Brazil- 
ian cities  re-enforce  their  rice  and  black 
beans  with  "xarque,"  or  dried  beef.  This 
is  prepared  far  in  the  interior  by  slaugh- 
tering range  cattle,  cutting  the  meat  into 
strips,  drying  it  in 
the  sun  and  ship- 
ping the  coarse, 
fly  -  blown  product 
to  market  in  bales. 
Some  of  this  xar- 
que is  exported — 
the     Cubans     and 

West    Indians   are         »,  " ^ 

fond    of    it    also.         ,  J^J 

But  Brazil's  re- 
quirements have 
been  so  great  that 
xarque  has  often 
been  imported 
from  Argentina, 
Paraguay  and  Uru- 
guay. 

It  was  a  red-let- 
ter day  for  Brazil 
when,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1914,  a  single 
ton  of  fresh  chilled 
beef  was  exported 
to  Europe.  The 
following  year  ex- 
ports grew  to  8500 
tons,  and  this  year, 
the  shipment  will 
exceed    100,000 

tons,  with  five  meat-packing  concerns 
producing  from  Sao  Paulo  down  to  the 
borders  of  Paraguay  and  Uruguay  and 
four  more  building — a  $10,000,000  in- 
vestment virtually  all  American. 

This  investment  by  Chicago  packers 
shows  their  belief  that  Brazilian  farm- 
ers will  effect  the  improvements  in  cat- 
tle breeding  necessary  to  supply  fresh 
beef  meeting  the  requirements  of  hungry 
Europe,  where  war  depletion  of  herds 
has  set  up  an  unprecedented  demand. 
Also  that  they  will  improve  their  hogs 
and  sheep  and  greatly  multiply  the  num- 
ber. 

The  quality  of  Brazilian  cattle  is 
inferior  from  the  fresh  beef  standpoint 
because  standard  European  and  Ameri- 
can breeds  have  been  almost  unknown. 
The  Brazilian  "beef  critter"  is  a  cross 


between  the  zebu,  or  humped  sacred  cow 
of  India,  and  the  acaracu  of  Brazilian 
type,  which  is  believed  to  be  the  result 
of  crossing  between  two  kinds  of  native 
cattle  from  Portugal.  Intermixed  from 
time  to  time  during  colonial  days  was 
the  blood  of  various  types  from  Spain 
and  China  with  some  Dutch  cattle  for 
milking  purposes.  Turned  wild  on  great 
ranges,  these  animals  proved  entirely  sat- 
isfactory for  xarque,  and  also  developed 
a  resistance  to  pests  and  diseases  which 
must  be  incorporated  into  improved  beef 
types  if  they  are  to  prove  profitable  in 
Brazil. 

For  the  country  has  more  than  its 
share  of  cattle  pests.  There  is  foot 
and  mouth  disease  always,  along  with 
anthrax.  The  cattle  tick  takes  its  toll 
and  a  pest  known  as  the  bernie  fly  per- 


the  necessary  foundation  for  breeding  up 
Brazilian  beef  types  which  will  yield 
60  per  cent  of  first-class  meat  against 
35  per  cent  for  the  Brazilian  native. 
The  big  question  is,  "How  to  do  it?" 
There  are  various  opinions  about  that. 
Some  of  the  Brazilian  ranchers  believe 
that  our  shorthorns  and  herefords  and 
the  beef  breeds  of  Europe  must  be  crossed 
either  with  the  zebu  or  the  acaracu,  while 
others  maintain  that  satisfactory  beef 
types  can  be  built  up  from  the  zebu  or 
the  acaracu  alone  by  scientific  selection. 
The  American  packers  have  sent  their 
best  breeding  experts  to  Brazil  to  assist, 
undertaking  breeding  experiments  of 
their  own  on  "fazendas"  which  they  have 
purchased  and  stocked.  What  sort  of 
opinion  one  gets  about  this  business  of 
creating  beef  cattle  for  Brazil  depends 
upon  whom  one 
talks  with,  as  with 
all  farm  matters. 
But  the  very  di- 
versity of  opinion 
and  experiment 
shows  that  the  job 
is  being  tackled 
along  broad  lines, 
and  already  there 
have  been  actual 
results  in  the  pro- 
duction of  good 
beef  animals  by 
both  the  Brazil- 
ians and  the  Amer- 
icans working  each 
in  their  own  way. 

PACKERS' 

TRANSPORT 

METHODS 


O1 


BOATING   A  POPULAR  SPORT 

forates  and  spoils  50  per  cent  of  a  Bra- 
zilian cattle  hide. 

IMPROVING  CATTLE  STANDARD 

HPHE  Hindu  zebu,  through  ages  of  ex- 
istence in  India,  has  become  wonder- 
fully resistant  to  tropical  pests.  Found 
in  nearly  all  warm  countries,  it  is  used 
for  farm  work  and  freighting  as  well  as 
for  meat.  It  has  a  patience  and  long 
suffering  truly  Buddhic.  The  Latin- 
American  peon,  accustomed  to  kicking  his 
zebu  ox  on  the  nose  when  he  wants  it 
to  hustle,  is  much  astonished  when  he 
first  meets  a  shorthorn  bull  from  the 
United  States — one  kick  and  he  imme- 
diately becomes  an  aviator.  The  Bra- 
zilian acaracu  is  also  noted  for  its  resist- 
ance to  pests  and  diseases,  and  these  two 
breeds,  thoroughly  acclimatized,  furnish 


UT  of  this  dis- 
cussion and 
Brazil's  determina- 
tion to  stabilize 
her  coffee  and  live- 
stock will  come  not 
only  resistant 
breeds  of  animals, 
but  a  basis  for  cleaning  up  the  pests  that 
hamper  the  industry.  The  destructive 
bernie  fly  usually  disappears  when  un- 
derbrush is  burned  away,  the  tick  can  be 
eliminated  by  dipping  and  starvation,  and 
most  cattle  diseases  gotten  rid  of  through 
general  measures  such  as  we  use  in  stamp- 
ing out  foot-and-mouth  disease.  Alto- 
gether, it's  a  matter  of  agricultural  edu- 
cation. 

The  Brazilian  pig  has  been  largely  of 
the  razorback  type,  grown  for  local  use 
and  valued  for  his  ability  to  forage  for 
himself.  He  runs  to  lard  and  bacon  and 
is  deficient  in  ham.  Duroc  Jerseys  and 
Poland  Chinas  thrive  in  Brazil,  and  will 
increase  as  fast  as  export  demand  makes 
a  stable  market  at  the  packing  houses. 
American  packers  are  importing  well- 
bred  animals  for  sale  to  Brazilian  farm- 


96 


BRAZIL 


:;:;iS:>::.;w  ::;:■:;: J::  .'■■  v  :::,::  V 


NATIONAL,  MUSEUM  AT  RIO   DB    JANEIRO 


ers  and  some  of  the  Brazilian  states  are 
distributing  boars  and  establishing  breed- 
ing farms. 

Sheep  raising  is  still  in  its  experimen- 
tal stage,  but  it  has  been  demonstrated 
that  both  mutton  and  wool  can  be  raised 
over  large  areas  of  the  country.  Frozen 
mutton  finds  a  ready  market  abroad,  and 
Sao  Paulo's  woolen  mills  will  take  all 
the  wool  produced,  because  the  home  pro- 
duction still  requires  considerable  import 
of  that  fiber. 

When  the  Chicago  packers  went  out 
on  to  the  open  prairie  at  home  and  began 
developing  a  national  meat  business  with 
the  rough-range  cattle  from  our  West, 
they  started  an  industry  that  had  to  be 
built  from  both  ends — improved  methods 
in  the  packing  house  and  improved  live- 
stock in  the  country. 

The  technique  of  the  industry  has  been 
perfected  so  minutely  that  in  the  first 
year  after  our  packers  bought  a  co-opera- 
tive farmers'  packing  house  in  South 
America  they  made  $250,000  out  of  a 
single  waste  material  which  the  South 
Americans  had  been  paying  to  have 
hauled  away. 

Chicago  is  transporting  this  industry 
bodily  to  Brazil,  with  all  its  technique, 
from  chilled  beef  sides  to  sausage,  soap 
and  sandpaper. 

In  Sao  Paulo  they  are  likewise  setting 
up  shop  far  outside  the  city. 

But  when  they  get  going,  Sao  Paulo, 
like  Chicago,  will  unquestionably  grow 
out  to  them  and  far  beyond. 


ARTICLE  XLVIII 

SPECULATIVE  "KICK"  BEING 
TAKEN  FROM  COFFEE  CROP 

CAO  PAULO,  Dec.  7.— One  day  last 
summer  the  first  silo  in  Brazil  was 
completed.  The  president  and  ministry 
of  the  state  of  Sao  Paulo  took  a  day  off 
and  journeyed  up  into  the  country  to 
dedicate  it.  Had  some  Brazilian  planter 
added  10,000,000  more  coffee  trees  to 
the  state  resources  they  would  have  con- 
sidered it  no  more  notable  than  a  thou- 
sand new  silos  to  the  governor  of  Indi- 
ana. But  if  Indiana  suddenly  discov- 
ered that  it  could  grow  coffee,  you  can 
see  the  governor  planting  the  first  tree 
on  a  big  fazenda,  and  that  is  the  way  the 
Brazilians  felt  about  their  first  silo. 

Experts  disagree  as  to  whether  coffee 
has  any  kick  as  a  beverage. 

Brazilians  are  unanimously  of  the 
opinion  that  it  has  a  "kick"  as  a  crop — 
a  morning-after  effect  like  the  kick  of  a 
mule. 

Once  upon  a  time  they  believed  other- 
wise, and  said,  "O  cafe  dara  para  tudo" 
— coffee  will  suffice  for  everything.  But 
now  they  know  better,  for  coffee  has 
made  Brazil  a  one-crop  country  in  the 
south,  just  as  rubber  made  it  a  one- 
crop  country  in  the  north.     Single  crop- 


ping anywhere  usually  runs  into  specu- 
lative tipsiness,  and  now  the  Brazilians 
are  ready  to  sober  up  and  diversify  their 
farming. 

In  the  grocery  store  coffee  has  always 
borne  strange  foreign  names — Java, 
Mocha,  Bahia  and  the  like.  Probably 
you  have  not  noticed  these  names  change, 
but  in  your  grandfather's  time  Pernam- 
buco  and  Bahia  were  favorites,  and  in 
father's  time  Rio,  while  today  Santos  is 
the  most  familiar  term.  These  are  sim- 
ply names  of  Brazilian  ports  through 
which  coffee  has  been  shipped  from  gen- 
eration to  generation  as  the  coffee  soils 
of  Brazil  became  exhausted  through  sin- 
gle cropping — not  a  bag  of  coffee  is 
grown  in  Santos  itself,  but  many  a  bag 
of  coffee  shipped  through  that  port  turns 
up  in  the  world's  grocery  store  under 
some  other  name,  because  Sao  Paulo  pro- 
duces half  the  world's  supply. 

COFFEE  PRICE  MAY  DOUBLE 

/""OFFEE  grows  on  small  trees,  in  a 
cherry-like  berry  containing  one  to 
three  beans.  It  is  not  altogether  a  tropi- 
cal crop,  but  has  to  be  shaded  in  hot 
countries.  But  it  is  tender  to  frost.  Sao 
Paulo's  uplands  are  warm  enough  to 
grow  coffee,  with  the  possibility  of  dam- 
aging frost  about  once  in  ten  years,  and 
cool  enough  to  grow  it  without  shade. 

Coffee  exhausts  the  soil  in  periods  of 
twelve  to  forty  years.  When  the  trees 
no  longer  bore  profitably  Brazilian  plants 
in  the  past  moved  on  to  virgin  soil,  leav- 
ing deserted  lands  behind  them.  Now 
they  have  reached  the  southern  limit  for 


BRAZIL 


97 


coffee  growing,  although  there  is  some 
room  still  to  grow  west  and  north. 

Another  handicap  has  been  the  pecu- 
liar Brazilian  labor  system.  When  the 
planter  could  no  longer  buy  slaves  in 
large  numbers  to  tend  the  trees  and  pick 
the  berries  he  sent  over  to  Portugal  and 
Italy,  bringing  in  peasants  to  do  the 
work.  Instead  of  being  settled  on  land 
of  their  own,  these  peasants  were  allot- 
ted tracts  of  land  to  clear  and  farm  in 
general  crops  on  the  condition  that  they 
planted  coffee  at  the  same  time.  When  the 
coffee  came  into  bearing,  at  the  end  of 
five  years,  the  land  was  turned  back  to 
the  owner  and  another  virgin  tract  as- 
signed, perhaps  to  the  same  laborer  or  to 
a  new  arrival,  if  the  former  went  home 
to  live  at  ease  on  his  fortune  of  $5000 
or  $10,000.  Thus  Brazil  lacked  real 
settlers,  and  the  big  fazendas  grew  big- 
ger. The  owners  could  not  check  their 
growth,  in  fact,  and  presently  Brazil  was 
producing  more  coffee  than  the  world 
could  drink — and  the  fazendas  went  on 
growing. 

Then  the  world's  markets  began  to  go 
to  pieces.  The  state  government  of  Sao 
Paulo,  backed  by  the  federal  government 
and  a  syndicate  of  capitalists,  went  into 
the  famous  "valorization"  scheme,  where- 
by the  state  bought  the  coffee  from  the 
planters  and  fed  it  out  to  the  world  so 
that  prices  were  maintained.  But  cof- 
fee began  to  accumulate  in  Brazil  until 
it  seemed  certain  three  years  ago  that 
valorization  would  result  in  the  loss  of 
millions  of  dollars.  A  speculative  crop 
never  ceases  to  be  speculative,  however. 
Nature  suddenly  intervened  with  a  frost 
in  June,  1918,  cutting  the  Sao  Paulo 
crop  square  in  half,  giving  a  three-year 
breathing  spell  for  market  recovery.  Bra- 
zil sold  her  accumulations  at  a  profit  of 
several  million  dollars,  and  for  the  next 
three  years  the 
world  may  have  to 
pay  from  half  to 
twice  as  much  per 
month  for  its 
morning  beverage. 

The  state  of 
Sao  Paulo  is  not 
going  to  dawdle 
away  that  breath- 
ing spell  from  now 
to  1922! 

It  has  put  its 
Department 
of  Agriculture  to 
work,  re-enforcing 
it  with  agricultu- 
ral specialists  from 
Washington,  and 
started  movements 
for  diversification 
along  half  a  dozen 

lines.  MR.  AND  MI 


DIVERSIFYING  AGRICULTURE 

DROBABLY  the  most  interesting  of 
all  is  the  possibility  of  taking  the 
"kick"  out  of  coffee  itself,  agriculturally 
speaking.  "Why  should  coffee  exhaust 
soil?"  the  experts  have  asked  themselves, 
and  are  seeking  the  answer.  Plants  take 
nitrogen,  phosphorus,  potash,  lime  and 
other  chemicals  from  soil.  Coffee  hates 
lime,  and  Sao  Paulo  is  so  deficient  in  lime 
that  poor  teeth  make  it  a  fine  field  for  the 
dentist — so  it  can't  be  lime.  Brazilian 
soils  are  rich  in  potash,  the  most  expen- 
sive fertilizing  ingredient.  If  it  is  phos- 
phorus that  coffee  eats  up,  then  it  may 
be  bought  in  bags  and  fed  to  the  trees; 
and  if  it  is  nitrogen  that  can  be  secured 
by  planting  legumes  between  the  trees 
and  plowing  them  under.  Experiments 
on  old  coffee  lands  that  have  been  lying 
fallow  for  fifty  years  in  the  north  dem- 
onstrate that  they  will  grow  coffee  again. 
So,  maybe,  there  is  a  long  rotation 
whereby  coffee  can  be  grown  fifteen  or 
twenty  years,  then  replaced  by  other 
crops  that  restore  the  soil,  and  coffee 
planted  again  in  five  or  ten  years.  The 
whole  subject  is  a  fertile  field  for  sci- 
entific investigation. 

Secondly,  Brazil  can  grow  cotton  for 
her  own  textile  mills  as  well  as  export, 
and  cotton  is  a  crop  strikingly  like  coffee 
from  the  standpoint  of  cultivation  and 
picking.  The  experts  have  advocated  its 
planting  between  the  rows  of  coffee  trees 
and  to  replace  frosted  coffee  while  the 
latter  is  coming  back.  The  cotton  seems 
to  feed  much  like  coffee,  and  now  the 
experts  advocate  keeping  them  separate. 


JAMES  H.    COLLINS  AFTER  A   FLIGHT  AT   THE   NAVAL   AVIATION   SCHOOL 


Cattle  and  livestock,  with  modern 
packing  plants  that  ship  chilled  meat 
abroad,  are  the  biggest  field  of  diversifi- 
cation, and  Sao  Paulo  had  got  into  them 
on  a  large  scale  before  the  frost  came, 
stimulated  by  war  demand  for  meat  and 
the  top-heavy  coffee  situation.  Up  in  the 
neighboring  states  of  Minas  Geraes, 
Goyaz  and  Matto  Grosso  there  are  great 
cattle  ranges  unfit  for  intensive  farming, 
while  Sao  Paulo  itself,  with  corn,  alfalfa, 
by-products  from  its  packing  industry 
and  meal  from  its  cotton  seed,  could 
finish  range  animals  for  market. 

Like  our  own  South,  with  its  devotion 
to  cotton,  Brazil  has  not  been  feeding 
itself.  Wheat  and  flour  are  still  being 
imported.  But  wheat  can  be  grown  in 
nearby  states — Goyaz,  Parana,  Matto 
Grosso — and  determined  efforts  are  made 
to  grow  it  and  bake  Brazil's  bread  at 
home.  Rice  and  beans  are  great  dishes 
in  Brazil,  both  imported  from  other 
countries  until  the  war,  when  Brazil 
turned  to  these  crops  and  now  exports 
both — we  bought  army  beans  from  her 
during  the  war. 

Better  farming  of  all  kinds  will  help 
the  situation. 

MODERN    IMPLEMENTS    ACCEPTED 

pWEN  in  enterprising  Sao  Paulo  state 
you  can  ride  through  the  country 
and  see  the  Brazilian  farmhand  whacking 
away  at  the  soil  with  a  crude  implement 
like  that  used  by  "The  Man  With  the 
Hoe."  He  whacks  the  soil  over  instead 
of  plowing,  whacks  the  seed  in  with  no 
regard  for  straight  rows  that  might  be 
cultivated  with  horses,  and  later,  when 
perhaps  one  hill  in  six  materializes, 
whacks  away  the  weeds.  The  Sao  Paulo 
Department  of  Agriculture  experts  have 
lately  been  out  to  study  the  "man  with 
the  hoe,"  to  see  who  bent  back  his  brow, 
and  they  find  that  it  isn't  bent  at  all, 
but  is  a  perfectly  normal  brow,  with  a 
large  capacity  for 
knowledge  about 
better  farming 
methods. 

One  of  the  most 
famous  farming 
centers  in  Brazil  is 
the  colony  of 
Americans  who 
left  our  southern 
states  after  the 
Civil  War  because 
they  wanted  to 
live  where  slavery 
was  tolerated. 
They  have  been 
farming  with  mod- 
ern implements  all 
these  years,  and 
wherever  the 
Brazilian  farms 
round  about  them 
you  will  find  him 


98 


BRAZIL 


working  with  good  plows  and  culti- 
vators, too,  and  planting  his  crops  in 
straight  rows  and  putting  the  old  horse 
through  them  when  the  weeds  spring  up. 

Only  two  things  have  hampered  ma- 
chine farming  in  Brazil.  One  is  the 
lack  of  practical  examples  and  the  other 
the  high  cost  of  farm  implements.  The 
Department  of  Agriculture  of  Sao  Paulo 
state  is  giving  practical  demonstrations 
to  farmers  in  the  fields,  and  may  ulti- 
mately adopt  something  like  our  sys- 
tem of  county  agents,  whereby  a  farm 
expert  lives  with  the  farmers  from  day 
to  day,  helping  them  increase  production 
and  meet  pests  and  emergencies.  High 
cost  of  farm  machinery  is  usually  at- 
tributed to  Brazilian  tariff  duties,  but 
the  agricultural  experts  maintain  that 
duties  are  moderate  compared  with  dis- 
tribution costs  and  dealers'  profits,  par- 
ticularly on  farm  implements  and  ma- 
chinery from  the  United  States.  One 
specific  illustration  was  given — that  of 
an  American  tractor  which  is  sold  in 
Brazil  at  twice  the  price  asked  in  the 
United  States,  and  with  margins  of 
profit  to  the  local  dealer  so  generous  that 
resentment  is  being  aroused — for  the 
Brazilian  farmer  has  a  long  head.  Such 
higher  prices  are  probably  due  to  the 
higher  cost  of  distribution  on  the  smaller 
volume  of  Brazilian  purchases,  but  there 
is  no  good  reason  why  our  manufac- 
turers might  not  conduct  a  five-year  cam- 
paign to  get  implements  on  to  Brazilian 
farms,  increasing  the  volume  by  practi- 
cal missionary  work.  The  Sao  Paulo 
experts  say  that  European  manufacturers 
are  keenly  interested  in  the  new  agricul- 
ture toward  which  Brazil  is  working, 
and  that  an  Italian  concern  is  offering 
a  tractor  on  the  lines  of  the  American 
machine  i^entioned  above,  with  more 
power,  greater  mechanical  strength  and 
finish  and  at  a  lower  price. 

Brazil  is  bound  to  diversify  her  farm- 
ing and  stabilize  her  prosperity. 

If  we  don't  help  her,  somebody  else 
will ! 


ARTICLE  XLIX 
BRAZIL  KEEN  FOR  HONEST 
NEWS  FROM  UNITED  STATES 

DIO  DE  JANEIRO,  Dec.  9.— Sup- 
pose you  had  two  neighbors,  one  a 
pretty  girl  and  the  other  a  hated  rival. 
Suppose  your  hated  rival  alone  talked 
about  you  every  day  to  the  pretty  girl, 
telling  her  what  sort  of  a  fellow  he 
thought  you  were,  and  you  never  spoke 
up  for  yourself.  Where  would  you  stand 
with  her? 

South  America  is  the  pretty  girl,  Eu- 
rope the  hated  rival  and  the  United 
States  is  you,  and  that's  where  we  stood 
until  war  virtually  compelled  us  to  es- 
tablish an  export  trade  in  one  of  our 
overlooked  national  products- — daily 
news  service. 

Brazil  is  typical.  Like  all  the  impor- 
tant  South   American   countries,   it  has 


good  newspapers  and  an  alert  public 
opinion  which  keeps  track  of  world 
affairs  through  cable  service  and  special 
correspondence.  But  for  years  the  bulk 
of  its  foreign  news  has  been  coming 
from  Europe,  including  such  news  as  it 
got  about  us.  Some  of  this  news  has 
been  frankly  propaganda.  With  valu- 
able trade  and  diplomatic  interests  to 
protect,  the  Briton,  Frenchman,  Italian, 
Spaniard,  Portuguese  and  German  have 
been  saying  nice  things  about  themselves, 
hinting  awful  things  about  their  neigh- 
bors, and  all  saying  awful  things  about 
us.  Some  of  the  news  has  been  inspired 
by  the  diplomats  and  some  of  it  colored 
by  the  journalists.  Leaving  out  propa- 
ganda motives,  there  was  still  the  fac- 
tor of  selection,  so  that  European  jour- 
nalists who  knew  little  about  the  United 
States  took  from  our  own  news  the  things 
they  believed  about  us  and  cabled  them 
to  Latin  America. 

DIRECT  U.  S.  NEWS  WELCOMED 

POLITICAL  graft,  divorces,  murder 
trials,  lynchings  and  millionaires 
have  always  been  the  most  interesting 
things  about  us  to  the  European  jour- 
nalist, and,  making  his  startling  selection, 
he  used  to  cable  it  to  Latin  America  and 
let  the  people  there  draw  their  own  con- 
clusions. Thus  the  United  States  was 
almost  a  mythical  country  of  crooked  pol- 
iticians and  rich  bounders,  where  wives 
were  swapped  overnight,  white  men 
hunted  black  men  through  the  streets  for 
sport  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine  would 
get  you  if  you  didn't  watch  out. 
"Caramba!  What  a  country!" 
When  we  got  into  the  war  it  became 
highly  important  to  have  Latin-Ameri- 
can sympathy,  and  investigation  of  pub- 
lic opinion  in  even  so  friendly  a  country 
as  Brazil  showed  that  southern  republics 
knew  very  little  about  us — at  least,  lit- 
tle that  was  true.  In  countries  like  Chile, 
still  cherishing  grudges  over  past  diplo- 
matic clashes  and  filled  with  enemy 
agents,  the  situation  may  be  imagined. 

Uncle  Sam  started  a  counter-propa- 
ganda in  the  different  countries  and  dis- 
covered that  Latin  Americans  were  hun- 
gry for  everyday  facts  about  the  United 
States,  our  war  purposes  and  prepara- 
tion, our  industries  and  methods.  Even 
in  Chile  all  one  had  to  do  to  counteract 
the  lies  a  German  agent  had  told  a  Chil- 


ean farmer  about  us  was  to  tell  the 
latter  something  about  farming  in  the 
United  States  or  let  him  see  us  farm  in 
the  movies. 

At  the  same  time  two  of  our  big  news 
agencies  began  marketing  their  service 
in  Latin  America — the  Associated  Press 
and  the  United  Press.  Today  you  can 
pick  up  newspapers  in  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
Buenos  Aires,  Santiago  or  Lima  and  find 
news  from  Washington,  New  York,  Chi- 
cago and  San  Francisco  on  the  front 
page.  It  has  been  bought  by  the  publish- 
ers for  money,  sometimes  in  competition 
with  government-subsidized  news  from 
Europe,  which  can  be  had  for  less 
money  or  even  for  nothing.  It  is  printed 
because  South  America  frankly  has  a  new 
interest  in  the  United  States,  and  is 
learning  the  truth  about  us  and  wants 
more  of  it. 

Associated  Press  service  is  being  sup- 
plied to  four  daily  papers  in  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro—-Jornal  de  Brazil,  Imparcial,  Cor- 
reio  de  Manha  and  Jornal.  About  2500 
words  of  American  news  are  received 
daily,  extending  to  3500  words  when 
printed.  United  Press  service  is  taken 
by  O  Paiz,  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  Esta- 
dos  de  Sao  Paulo,  in  the  city  of  Sao 
Paulo.  About  3500  words  of  American 
news  are  cabled,  together  with  special 
articles  by  the  United  Press  correspond- 
ents in  Europe. 

INTEREST  IN  YANKEE  POLITICS 

AMERICAN  news  is  a  novelty  in 
Brazil,  but  the  people  like  it.  Pub- 
lishers have  found  it  so  popular  that  they 
"play  up"  the  stories  on  their  front 
pages.  Demand  has  increased  to  such  an 
extent  that  more  news  from  the  United 
States  is  now  printed  than  from  any  other 
one  country. 

Brazilians  like  our  crisp  style  of  re- 
porting and  writing — it  is  a  marked  con- 
trast to  the  solid  and  ofttimes  prosy  style 
of  the  European  journalist.  Our  news 
sparkles  with  headline  materials,  and  in 
handling  it  the  Brazilian  editors  instinc- 
tively bring  out  suggestive  headings  and 
break  the  solid  classified  arrangement  of 
news  which  has  made  so  much  work  for 
Brazilian  readers. 

Another  thing  Brazilians  like  about 
our  news  is  its  impartiality.  They  have 
learned  that  if  something  in  the  news  is 
unfavorable  to  the  United  States,  that 
will  be  sent  just  as  faithfully  and  fully, 
without  coloring,  as  the  story  that  is  fa- 
vorable to  us.  Long  experience  with 
European  news  agencies  makes  it  diffi- 
cult for  them  to  believe  that  an  institu- 
tion like  our  Associated  Press  is  not 
subsidized  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment. But  in  the  news  itself  from  day 
to  day  is  reflected  the  Associated  Press 
impartiality  and  exactness,  and  readers 
are  learning  that  the  reports  of  this  big 
news-gathering  service  can  be  depended 
upon.  The  effect  is  already  apparent  in 
European  news  cabled  to  Brazil.  Cock- 
and-bull   stories  about  American  affairs 


BRAZIL 


99 


do  not  find  credence  now,  because  the 
Brazilians  know  more  about  us.  Ameri- 
can affairs  are  handled  with  greater 
breadth  and  dignity. 

Brazilian  preference  is  chiefly  for  our 
political  news.  Politics  are  an  every- 
day interest  with  all  Latin  America. 
Washington  dispatches  reporting  the  acts 
and  utterances  of  the  President,  the  de- 
bating and  voting  in  Congress,  our  rela- 
tions with  other  countries  and  daily  hap- 
penings in  diplomatic  life  are  given  the 
greatest  prominence  in  space  and  posi- 
tion. Major  happenings  in  general  news 
are  also  valued — important  gatherings, 
big  sporting  events,  industrial  disturb- 
ances, business  matters  and  the  like. 
There  are  very  comprehensive  reports  on 
affairs  of  special  interest  to  Latin  Ameri- 
cans, such  as  coffee  prices  in  New  York, 
the  Mexican  situation,  Latin-American 
relations  reflected 
in  Washington  and 
United  States 
plans  for  trade  and 
development  in  the 
southern  continent. 

CABLE  SERVICE 
LACKING 

"READING  our 
own  reports 
concerning  our 
politics,  especially 
internatio  nal 
affairs,  Brazilians 
are  learning  more 
of  our  acts  and 
policies.  This 
promises  to  coun- 
teract old  fears 
about  "Yankee  ag- 
gression," and  set 
Brazil  straight  on 
the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine. The  Bra- 
zilian has  a  sound 
sense  and  an  in- 
stinctive friendli- 
ness for  us,  which  makes  it  less  easy 
for  politicians  to  alarm  him  by  cries 
of  "Wolf!"  than  in  some  of  the 
smaller  Latin-American  countries,  where 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  the  politician's 
bread  and  "Yankee  aggression"  his  meat. 
But  even  in  Brazil  this  doctrine  is  often 
distorted  with  a  view  to  stirring  up  trou- 
ble, and  it  is  helpful  in  our  relations  to 
have  the  Brazilian  watching  our  interna- 
tional affairs  day  by  day  from  a  front  seat 
on  our  grandstand. 

Our  cable  news  has  to  be  sent  in  to 
Brazil  through  the  back  door.  We  have 
no  direct  cable  connections,  and  the  Brit- 
ish cable  company  does  not  see  fit  to 
give  American  news  associations  adequate 
service  over  its  heavily  burdened  wires. 
So  our  news  is  cabled  to  Valparaiso, 
and  from  there  telegraphed  to  Buenos 
Aires  and  Rio  de  Janeiro. 


American  news  service  is  thus  far  lim- 
ited entirely  to  the  actual  news  itself — 
day-by-day  reports  of  happenings  of  wide 
interest.  General  information  about  the 
United  States  of  semi-news  nature  lies 
outside  the  news  associations'  field,  being 
in  the  province  of  the  Sunday  editor, 
magazine  contributor  and  technical 
writer.  Yet  there  is  undoubtedly  a  great 
mass  of  general  information  about  the 
United  States  which  Brazilians  would 
like  to  read  and  which  would  be  of  prac- 
tical value  to  themselves  in  the  develop- 
ment of  their  country  and  beneficial  to 
us  because  making  for  better  acquaint- 
ance. Brazilian  newspapers  have  noth- 
ing corresponding  to  our  Sunday  edi- 
tions, but  they  do  publish  many  fine  in- 
formative articles  from  special  contribu- 
tors, particularly  Brazilian  writers  liv- 
ing in  Europe.  If  similar  articles  deal- 
ing with  American  life  and  tendencies, 


DISTRIBUTION   OP  CHARITY   IN   RIO   DE   JANEIRO 

work  and  play,  achievements  and  ideals 
were  available  they  would  unquestion- 
ably make  a  place  for  themselves  in  Bra- 
zilian newspapers. 


ARTICLE  L 

BRAZILIANS  HAVE  HORROR 
OF  PHYSICAL  VIOLENCE 

DIO  DE  JANEIRO,  Dec.  12.— 
Thousands  of  persons  will  throng 
the  streets  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  carnival 
time,  yet  one  person  seldom  touches  an- 
other. This  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  Bra- 
zilian— that  he  does  not  like  to  be 
touched  by  strangers.  Even  the  young 
Brazilians,  now  going  in  for  sports,  pre- 
fer the  noncontact  sports,  such  as  rowing, 
soccer,  football,  tennis  and  track  sports. 
Wrestling   and   boxing   would    be   alto- 


gether foreign  to  Brazilian  tastes.  In- 
deed, the  Brazilian  has  almost  a  hor- 
ror of  fist  fighting  on  American  and 
British  lines.  Doctor  Hackett,  of  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation,  tells  a  good 
story  along  this  line.  There  was  an  ar- 
gument in  his  office,  and  a  Brazilian 
called  an  assistant  a  liar.  "Why,  Can- 
dido,  do  you  really  mean  to  call  Henry 
a  liar?"  asked  the  doctor.  "Yes,  I 
do,"  was  the  reply.  The  doctor  rose 
from  his  seat.  Candido  ran  to  the  door, 
shut  himself  outside  and  called  back 
nervously,  "Now,  I  don't  want  any  of 
this  boxing  business." 

Among  other  reasons  given  for  Char- 
lie Chaplin's  lack  of  popularity  in  Bra- 
zil is  this  Brazilian  dislike  of  violence. 
To  nearly  every  other  nation  in  the 
world,  and  especially  the  Spanish  Ameri- 
cans, there  is  something  uproariously 
funny  in  pie-throwing,  falling  downstairs 
and  slapstick  and 
fire-hose  humor 
generally.  But  the 
Brazilian  doesn't 
see  anything  funny 
in  a  drunken  man, 
or  in  one  man  kick- 
ing another  in  the 
stomach.  About 
the  only  American 
film  of  this  kind 
regarded  as  funny 
in  Brazil  is  the 
Mutt  and  Jeff  type 
of  animated  draw- 
ing, in  which  pup- 
pets figure  instead 
of  people.  The 
Brazilians  are 
learning  to  like 
them,  yet  seldom 
laugh  out  loud. 
The  newly  arrived 
American,  openly 
"haw-hawing"  at 
the  show,  finds 
with  astonishment  that  he  is  laughing  all 

alone. 

#      *      * 

HpHE  Egyptians  used  to  carry  a  mummy 
among  the  guests  at  every  feast,  as  a 
reminder  that  we  are  all  mortals.  One 
of  the  sights  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  is  the 
delivery  of  coffins,  which  are  carried 
empty  on  men's  heads.  At  a  certain 
Avenida  restaurant  one  can  sit  eating  at 
a  window  table  and  see  a  coffin  carried 
by  at  least  once  in  five  minutes — an 
equivalent  of  the  mummy  at  the  feast, 
very  characteristic  of  the  Brazilian  capi- 
tal. Coffins,  hearses  and  funerals  gen- 
erally, like  many  other  things  in  Brazil, 
are  a  government  concession  and  monop- 
oly. But  they  are  systematically  stand- 
ardized, with  official  charges  for  eight 
different  classes  of  funerals.  A  first- 
class  funeral,  complete,  is  quite  a  gor- 
geous affair,  with  a  gayly  gilded  coffin 


100 

and  a  gilded  hearse  to  match,  drawn  by 
six  mules,  and  costs, $150.  The  pitiful 
little  eighth-class  funeral  of  the  suburbs, 
with  even  the  motorman  respectfully  lift- 
ing-his  hat  as  it  passes,  has  some  paper 
flowers  and  a  little  gilding,  and  costs 
only  twenty  milreis — $5. 

*  •     * 

A  MORE  cheerful  subject  is  the  public 
wedding  automobile  in  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro, hired  for  marriages  by  all  who  can 
afford  it.  This  is  a  small  town  car,  in 
which  the  bride  and  groom  ride  to  the 
church  and  civil  ceremony.  The  whole 
body  of  the  car  is  made  of  plate-glass 
panels — sides,  front,  back  and  doors. 
Each  panel  is  outlined  with  sprays  of 
white  wax  flowers,  re-enforced  by  a  big 
bouquet  of  wax  blossoms.  The  interior 
is  trimmed  in  white,,  and  the  bride  and 
groom  sitting  inside  look  as  stately  as  the 
little  figures  on  a  wedding  cake.  Mar- 
riage without  this  car  is  unthinkable  to 
the  Rio  de  Janeiro  bride. 

*  *      * 

VJTTHEN  two  automobiles  crash  into 
' V  each  other  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  in- 
stead of  sending  for  a  wrecking  crew  the 
police  place  a  guard  oyer  the  remnants 
and  see  that  they  remain  undisturbed 
until  a  formal  investigation  is  made  by 
the  authorities,  and  also  the  attorneys  on 
either  side.  Very  often  the  wreck  will 
lie  a  week,  even  if  it  becomes  necessary 
to  divert  traffic.  Nothing  connected  with 
legalities  is  ever  skimped  or  done  in  a 
hurry  in  Brazil — everything  must  be 
painstakingly  recorded,  attested  and  fis- 
calized.  So  if  you  like  automobile  wrecks, 
or  take  a  technical  interest  in  tests  of  de- 
struction, the  streets  of  the  Brazilian 
capital  are  an  ever-changing  museum  and 
scrap  heap. 


BRAZIL 


A 


LTHOUGH  constantly  repeated  by 
greenhorns,  there  is  virtually  noth- 
ing in  the  myth  that  the  American 
woman  walking  alone  on  Rio  de  Janeiro 
streets  is  certain  to  be  pestered  by  mash- 
ers. To  be  sure,  the  masher  exists  in 
Brazil  and  other  Latin-American  coun- 
tries, as  he  does  on  Broadway,  Market 
street  and  State  street.  But  he  believes 
in  safety  first,  and  the  American  girl 
is  automatically  protected  by — her  shoes! 
Brazilian  women  wear  the  stilt-like, 
foot-deforming,  short-vamp  shoe  com- 
mon throughout  Latin  America,  because 
they  believe  it  makes  their  foot  look 
small.  The  mere  sight  of  a  woman  wear- 
ing normal  shoes  is  a  danger  signal  to 
the  Avenida  Rio  Branco  masher.  He 
has  evidently  heard  terrible  things  about 
the  militant  American  girl,  and  intends 
to  risk  none  of  "this  boxing  business." 
#      #      * 

A     BRAZILIAN    newspaper   solicitor 
called  upon  the  only  American  busi- 
ness woman  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  as  she  was 
advertising  a  consumer  product  in  other 


GENERAL  RONDON,  IN  CHARGE  OP  A  NEW 
GEOGRAPHICAL  SURVEY  OF  BRAZIL 


journals,  and  he  wanted  the  business  for 
his  own.  She  told  him  his  paper  would 
be  used  when  she  got  ready.  He  came 
again  in  a  few  days,  and  called  regularly 
for  several  weeks,  but  without  success. 
She  was  as  persistent  in  waiting  as  he 
was  in  calling.  Finally  she  was  ready, 
and  signed  a  contract.  As  the  grateful 
advertising  man  put  it  into  his  pocket  he 
said:  "Senhora,  there  is  something  else. 
We  are  establishing  a  new  enterprise. 
We  will  offer  you  a  suitable  salary  to 
attend  at  our  office  two  hours  daily,  be- 
cause we  need  some  one  who  knows  how 
to  say  'No.'  " 

a     •     * 


'"PHE  Brazilians  are  constantly  saying 
"No"  as  a  matter  of  habit,  but 
they  really  mean  "Yes."  "You  like 
Brazil — nao  e?"  they  ask,  with  a  nasal 
French  "nong."  "You  are  feeling  well 
— nao  e?"  "You  will  have  a  drink— 
nao  e?"  The  right  interpretation  was 
put  upon  this  idiomatic  expression  by 
the  Yankee  who  answered,  "I'll  have  a 
drink — yes!" 


CPORTS  are  taking  such  a  foothold  in 
Brazil  that  the  Portuguese  language 
lacks  sufficient  words  to  report  the  events, 
and  familiar  English  words  crop  up  all 
through  the  sporting  news.  Soccer,  foot- 
ball, rowing,  horse  racing,  swimming 
and  tennis  are  the  chief  sports,  and  the 
word  "sports"  itself  heads  the  sporting 
page,  because  there  is  no  equivalent  for 
it  in  Portuguese — the  French,  Spanish 
and  Germans  have  had  to  adopt  it,  too. 
Other  English  words  used  and  under- 
stood are  football,  turf,  rowing,  tennis, 
training,  team,  club,  player,  kick,  free 
kick,  goal,  record,  scratch,  penalty, 
sportsman,  jockey,  derby,  game,  match, 
etc.  Our  world's  series  is  usually  re- 
ported in  cable  news  as  a  "matche  de 
baseball"  with  a  quaint  idiom  to  the 
effect  that  "yesterday  at  Chicago  there 
was  realized  a  matche  de  baseball  which 
was  disputed  with  the  assistance  of  24,- 
000  persons."  A  big  pugilistic  event  will 
also  be  reported  as  a  "matche  de  box." 
Flying  has  also  introduced  English 
words  like  "raid." 


AMERICAN  ragtime  is  popular  in 
1 ■"*  Brazil  and  the  one-step  and  fox-trot 
alternate  with  the  maxixe,  waltz  and 
tango.  When  the  Brazilians  play  our 
national  music,  however,  they  uncon- 
sciously tone  it  down  with  their  own  rag, 
and  leave  out  a  lot  of  the  jazz  and  the 
noise.  Prof.  Harry  Kosarin,  well  known 
in  New  York  cabarets,  recently  took  a 
real  jazz  band  to  South  America,  with 
banjos,  saxophones  and  trap-drum  effects 
— the  professor  himself  plays  traps.  In 
both  Argentina  and  Brazil  this  band 
caught  on  instantly,  dancing  being  or- 
ganized first  by  the  Americans  and  then 
taken  up  by  the  Latin  Americans.  The 
latter  freely  admit  that  something  is  hap- 
pening to  them.  Certain  traditional  for- 
malities in  etiquette  and  thinking  are 
breaking  down.  The  play  spirit  is  res- 
cuing the  Latin  American  from  an  empty 
etiquette  which  rests  almost  as  heavily 
upon  him  as  puritanism  upon  ourselves. 
Like  ourselves,  he  is  glad  to  get  out  and 
be  a  boy  again,   and   American  jazz   is 

part  of  it. 

t      *      * 

DESIDES  curing  Brazilians  of  hook- 
worm,  the  Rockefeller  Foundation 
conducts  an  educational  campaign  to  pre- 
vent reinfection  by  the  installation  of 
sanitary  toilets  and  small  sewage-disposal 
systems.  As  an  illustration  of  Brazilian 
hospitality  to  new  ideas,  one  of  the  Amer- 
ican doctors  tells,  the  story  of  a  country 
widow  who  was  so  determined  to  protect 
her  children  and  servants  that  she  had 
a  sewage-disposal  system  built.  She  was 
not  very  well-to-do,  however,  and  had  to 
pawn  her  only  jewel  to  pay  the  contrac- 
tor. "You  have  done  better  than  any 
one  in  this  neighborhood,"  declared  the 
doctor,  when  he  made  his  return  tour 
of  inspection.     "Ah,  yes,  doctor;  but  I 


BRAZIL 


101 


had  to  pawn  things,  and  when  people 
ask  where  your  only  jewel  is,  you  can 
show  them  this  my  only  diamond,"  she 
said. 


ARTICLE  LI 

NEW  CABLE  WILL  HELP 

U.  S.-LATIN- AMERICA  TRADE 

DIO  DE  JANEIRO,  Dec.  13.— For 

fifty  years  now  American  cable  in- 
terests have  been  seeking  an  entrance  to 
Brazil. 

At  last  there  are  prospects  that  this 
dream  will  be  realized,  but  some  of  the 
skeptics  are  keeping  their  fingers  crossed. 
The  original  dreamer  was  James  A. 
Scrymser,  one  of  the  most  daring  Ameri- 
can pioneers  in  submarine  telegraphy. 
Mr.  Scrymser  began  laying  cables  in 
1866,  with  a  line  from  Florida  to  Cuba, 
under  Spanish  concession.  He  intended 
to  go  on  to  Brazil,  touching  Para,  Rio 
de  Janeiro  and  ultimately  Buenos  Aires. 
Negotiations  with  the  Brazilian  Govern- 
ment for  permission  to  land  and  operate 
a  cable  in  1868  were  successful.  So  Mr. 
Scrymser  started  down  the  west  coast, 
organizing  the  Mexican  Telegraph  Co. 
and  Central  and  South  American 
Telegraph  Co.,  running  from  New 
Orleans  to  Mexico,  thence  down  to 
Colon,  across  the  isthmus,  and  from  port 
to  port  until  Chile  was  reached.  From 
Valparaiso  he  strung  telegraph  wires 
across  to  Buenos  Aires  and  cable  to 
Montevideo. 

In  his  efforts  to  enter  Brazil  he  gave 
American  cable  connections  to  every 
country  in  Central  and  South  America 
except  Brazil  itself  and  Venezuela.  But 
after  fifty  years'  knocking  the  door  was 
still  closed  when  he  died,  in  1918. 

The  fast  cable  rate  over  American 
lines  from  Buenos  Aires  to  New  York  is 
fifty  cents  a  word  and  a  rate  of  sixty 
cents  will  be  possible  when  the  American 
lines  reach  Rio  de  Janeiro.  The  present 
fast  cable  rate 
from  Brazil  to 
New  York  via 
England  is  eighty- 
four  cents  a  word, 
while  if  the  sender 
wants  to  send  via 
Buenos  Aires  and 
over  the  system 
that  Americans 
are  seeking  to  com- 
plete, the  rate  is 
raised  to  $1  a 
word. 

It  is  a  story  of 
monopoly  and  cor- 
porate blindness. 

British  cables 
running  from 
Brazil  to  St.  Vin- 
cent, the   Madeira 


and  Azores  islands,  and  thence  to  Eng- 
land and  the  United  States  are  owned 
and  operated  by  the  Western  Telegraph 
Co.,  a  British  concern,  which,  years  ago, 
secured  a  cable  monopoly  from  Brazil 
and  succeeded  in  having  it  renewed  until 
1913.  Even  then  it  had  the  right  to 
construct  any  new  cable  line  proposed  by 
a  newcomer,  the  latter  going  ahead  only 
if  the  British  company  refused. 

AMERICAN  CABLE  SOON 

\XfHEN  the  monopoly  ended  the 
American  company  asked  for  a  con- 
cession from  Rio  de  Janeiro  to  Santos 
and  thence  to  Buenos  Aires.  The  Brit- 
ish company  would  not  undertake  the 
construction  of  a  cable  to  connect  with 
American  lines,  especially  as  the  Yankees 
asked  for  no  monopoly  or  government 
subsidy.  So  it  looked  as  though  the  last 
link  of  American  cable  communication 
would  be  completed.  The  British  com- 
pany brought  suit  against  the  Brazilian 
Government,  however,  in  the  endeavor  to 
maintain  its  monopoly,  and  nearly  three 
years  were  spent  in  litigation,  terminated 
by  a  decision  against  the  monopoly  by 
the  Brazilian  Supreme  Court. 

Then  the  Brazilian  Government  gave 
permission  by  contract  to  land  and  op- 
erate the  American  cable  in  August, 
1917. 

There  is  a  Brazilian  Government  in- 
stitution known  as  the  Tribunal  de  Con- 
tas,  originally  established  to  review  gov- 
ernment contracts  and  straighten  out 
discrepancies.  In  recent  years  this  tri- 
bunal, like  government  bureaus  every- 
where, has  been  taking  executive  power 
unto  itself.  When  the  American  cable 
contract  came  along  the  tribunal  refused 
it  registry  on  technical  points.  Under 
two  clauses  the  Americans  were  permit- 
ted to  bring  cable  equipment  into  Brazil 
free  of  duty.  The  Americans  conceded 
that  there  might  be  justice  in  this  objec- 
tion and  were  willing  to  eliminate  those 
clauses.      But   legal    advice   was   to   the 


BRAZILIANS  PROW  ALL  SECTIONS  SEEK  "MIRACLE  CHURCH"  OF  OUR  LADY  OF 
PENHA.  NEAR  RIO.  ON  SPECIAL  FEAST  DAYS 


effect  that  an  offer  of  that  sort  would 
probably  give  the  British  company 
ground  for  a  new  lawsuit. 

The  decision  of  the  Brazilian  Supreme 
Court  had  legally  broken  the  British 
monopoly.  So  the  Americans  asked  for 
another  contract  with  the  objectionable 
clauses  left  out,  and  this  has  just  been 
approved  by  the  President.  At  the  pres- 
ent writing  the  Tribunal  de  Contas  ap- 
parently has  no  ground  upon  which  to 
refuse  registry.  In  the  long  legal  bat- 
tle the  Americans  have  won  point  after 
point,  along  with  Brazilian  sympathy. 
Immediately  after  the  registry  of  the 
contract  the  construction  of  land  termi- 
nals can  begin,  and  if  present  plans  go 
through  the  cable  will  be  laid  and  work- 
ing in  1920. 

An  American  cable  official  recently 
spoke  at  the  American  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce in  Rio  de. Janeiro,  his  talk  being 
followed  by  a  quiz. 

"When  is  that  American  cable  going 
to  be  ready?"  shouted  one  questioner. 

"The  American  cable  is  now  being 
made  in  England,"  he  replied. 

Which  brings  up  the  subject  of  na- 
tional rivalry  between  the  British  and 
ourselves  in  this  whole  cable  affair. 

Despite  many  dark  interpretations  of 
the  Brazilian  cable  monopoly  as  to  Brit- 
ish repression  of  our  trade,  there  seems 
to  be  nothing  deeper  than  shortsighted 
selfishness  on  the  part  of  a  British  cor- 
poration. This  corporation  has  worked 
its  monopoly  for  all  it  was  worth.  Rates 
have  discouraged  cable  communication 
instead  of  increasing  it.  Service  has  been 
tardy  and  inaccurate.  Many  an  Ameri- 
can doing  business  in  Brazil  has  reason 
to  believe  that  valuable  business  informa- 
tion sent  by  cable  becomes  known  to  his 
competitors.  British  cable  news  comes 
to  Brazil  over  British  lines,  but  facili- 
ties are  not  afforded  for  transmitting 
American  news,  which  comes  over  our 
own  lines  to  Buenos  Aires  and  must  there 
be  taken  off  the  wires  and  retelegraphed 
to  Rio  de  Janeiro 
to  avoid  the  Brit- 
ish cable  c  o  m  - 
'•  pany's  penalty  of 
*  fifteen    cents    a 

word  on  through 
messages  over  the 
American  line. 

But  the  fact  that 
the  American  cable 
is  being  made  in 
England  demon- 
strates that  ill  will 
is  confined  to  one 
British  corpora- 
tion, because  the 
making  of  ocean 
cable  is  virtually  a 
British  monopoly 
of  skill,  just  as  the 
control     of     gutta 


102 

percha  for  cable  insulation  is  a  monopoly 
of  British  resources.  Level-headed  Amer- 
icans in  Rio  de  Janeiro  resist  the  tempta- 
tion to  make  dark  interpretations,  and, 
as  in  the  case  of  shortsighted  British 
steamship  companies,  are  waiting  for  the 
day  when  there  will  be  competition  in 
both  cable  and  steamship  service.  Then 
the  vision  of  these  companies  will  un- 
questionably be  improved,  and  their  serv- 
ice, too. 
DIRECT  CONNECTION  WANTED 

DRAZILIANS  want  direct  cable  com- 
munication  with  the  United  States. 
During  the  war,  under  the  monopoly, 
cable  connections  with  the  rest  of  the 
world  have  decreased  50  per  cent  while 
the  traffic  has  quadrupled.  The  British 
company  has  recently  laid  a  new  cable 
to  Ascension  island,  relieving  the  pres- 
sure, but  Brazilian  trade  with  the  United 
States,  no  less  than  our  own  with  Bra- 
zil, calls  for  direct  communication.  We 
buy  more  than  40  per  cent  of  Brazil's 
exports,  and  Brazilian  exporters  want 
their  business  messages  to  us  carried  di- 
rectly, avoiding  transmission  through 
other  countries  and  possible  scrutiny. 
They  want  the  reduced  rates  and  more 
liberal  use  of  cables  offered  by  the  Amer- 


BRAZIL 

icans.  Since  1 882  the  rate  per  word  be- 
tween Buenos  Aires  and  New  York  has 
been  cut  down  from  $7.50  to  only  50 
cerits  and  transmission  reduced  to  twenty 
minutes.  A  reduction  of  25  per  cent  in 
rates  to  all  South  American  countries 
reached  by  American  cables,  made  some 
years  prior  to  the  war,  was  maintained 
during  the  war  period  despite  greatly 
increased  costs.  Argentina,  Uruguay 
and  Chile  not  only  have  a  competitive 
advantage  over  the  Brazilians  in  cheaper 
cable  service  to  the  United  States,  but 
during  the  war  were  able  to  send  direct 
messages  to  New  York  with  a  single 
censorship,. whereas  the  Brazilian  coffee 
exporter,  cabling  through  England,  had 
to  pay  nearly  double  the  rate  and  submit 
to  double  censorship.  Very  often  he  took 
the  still  stiffer  option  of  paying  the  pen- 
alty to  have  his  messages  sent  over  our 
lines  to  take  advantage  of  the  single 
censorship.  In  the  coming  industrial  de- 
velopment of  Brazil  it  is  clear  that  busi- 
ness communications  must  often  be  trans- 
ferred to  cables,  as  even  fast  mails  are 
too  slow.  The  immense  economic  and 
strategic  value  of  cables  demonstrated 
during  the  war  has  not  escaped  the  Bra- 
zilian. 


The  Americans  have  another  cable 
contract  with  Brazil,  although  construc- 
tion will  take  longer  than  the  connection 
between  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Buenos 
Aires.  This  line  will  run  north  from  the 
Brazilian  capital  to  the  island  of  Fer- 
nando de  Noronha,  which  is  Brazilian 
territory,  and  from  there  to  Maranhao 
and  Para  and  thence  to  St.  Thomas, 
Porto  Rico,  Guantanamo,  Cuba  and 
New  York.  This  cable  will  give  Brazil 
a  more  direct  connection  with  the  United 
States,  and  have  the  further  advantage 
of  passing  only  through  Brazilian  and 
United  States  territory,  as  the  landing 
station  in  Cuba  is  on  Uncle  Sam's  naval 
reservation. 

American  cable  men  seek  one  other 
improvement  in  communication  with 
Brazil.  Under  a  special  tax  imposed 
over  the  Brazilian  Government's  tele- 
graph lines  a  direct  cable  message  from 
New  York  to  Rio  de  Janeiro  at  sixty 
cents  a  word  would  be  charged  twenty- 
five  cents  a  word  for  transmission  in- 
land to  Sao  Paulo,  although  the  local 
telegraph  rate  between  the  two  cities  is 
only  five  cents  a  word.  This  is  simply 
another  of  the  many  hampering  taxes 
and  regulations  which  the  Brazilians 
have  contrived  for  revenue  purposes  and 
which  they  now  seem  disposed  to  modify. 


■tew 

RmH9Sffc: 

ac''|nnciiffljvE| 

*j3i~  - 

u 


-£- 


ruguayQ^ 


Calle  Saranda,  Montevideo's  Fashionable  Shopping  Street. 

The  Uruguayan  Capital  Has  Over  300  Avenues 

All  Well  Paved  and  Lighted 


ARTICLE  LXI 

URUGUAY  IS  THE  BIGGEST 
LITTLE  REPUBLIC  IN  SOUTH 

MONTEVIDEO,  Dec.  25.— "A.  B. 
C.    plus    Uruguay"    is    a    happy 
phrase. 

It  stands  for  Argentina,  Brazil  and 
Chile,  the  dominant  Latin-American  re- 
publics, adding  the  littlest  South  Ameri- 
can republic  of  them  all  because  she  is 
one  of  the  biggest  of  them  all  in  pro- 
gressiveness,  character  and  spirit. 

Uruguay  is  plus  in  all  save  area  and  • 
population.  Buy  some  of  her  pesos  at 
the  bank  and  you  will  have  to  pay  $1.03 
apiece  for  them,  the  soundest  money  in 
Latin  America,  backed  by  the  best  gold 
reserve  and  the  best  national  bank  and 
banking  system.  Uruguay  has  more  im- 
proved highways  than  any  other  South 
American  country  not  simply  in  propor- 
tion to  her  size,  but  in  actual  mileage, 
a  total  of  more  than  5000  miles,  largely 
macadamized,  and  her  people  own  nearly 
twice  as  many  automobiles  as  the  Brazil- 
ians. She  has  the  best  public  school  sys- 
tem. Her  per  capita  wealth  is  nearly 
$1800  against  our  own  average  of  $2000. 
John  Bull  has  been  investing  his  money 
in  Latin  America  since  the  days  of  Na- 
poleon,  and   ought  to  know  something 


about  security  and  profits  in  the  various 
countries.  Uruguay  ranks  fourth  in 
British  esteem,  with  $250,000,000  in- 
vested. 

One  of  the  big  American  packing  con- 
cerns in  Montevideo  has  been  selling  its 
specialties  to  the  local  retail  butchers  for 
two  years.  Many  of  these  merchants 
have  a  very  modest  turnover,  yet  in  that 
period  only  one  bad  account  of  $100  was 
lost,  and  even  that  because  the  merchant 
died  and  his  affairs  were  badly  tangled. 

The  Americans  in  Uruguay  find  the 
Uruguayan  word  above  par  like  the  Uru- 
guayan peso.  If  an  Uruguayan  makes  a 
bargain  he  sticks  to  it.  If  he  makes  an 
appointment  with  you  he  keeps  it.  If 
you  hire  him  to  work  he  does  work,  and 
there  is  no  "manana"  in  his  temperament 
or  vocabulary. 

SEE  THE  MOUNTAIN 

DEFORE  leaving  New  York  the 
writer  made  inquiries  about  the  lead- 
ing Latin-American  countries  from  their 
consuls.  The  Uruguayan  consul  at  once 
sent  a  descriptive  booklet  about  his 
country  in  English.  In  other  Latin- 
American  countries  the  Uruguayan  away 
from  home,  learning  of  the  "Public 
Ledger's"  enterprise  in  investigating 
business  conditions  on  the  southern  con- 
tinent, always  turns  up  to  speak  a  good 


word  for  his  own  country,  and  a  good 
word  for  the  country  where  he  happens 
to  be  living. 

Uruguay  is  just  a  little  larger  than 
Missouri,  with  an  area  of  72,000  square 
miles  and  a  population  of  about  1,400,- 
000.  It  lives  chiefly  on  its  wool,  mutton, 
beef  and  hides,  with  some  wheat  and 
corn.  Sheep  are  the  chief  industry,  num- 
bering 25,000,000,  or  half  as  many  as 
in  the  entire  United  States.  Cattle 
number  8,000,000.  Lacking  the  rich 
alfalfa  lands  of  Argentina  and  the  min- 
eral and  forest  wealth  of  Brazil,  the 
Uruguayan  has  had  to  "farm  it"  indus- 
triously, and  his  intensively  developed  lit- 
tle republic  stands  on  a  footing  with  our 
best  states.  That  ther-;  is  room  for  fur- 
ther development  is  shown  in  the  fact 
that  the  average  area  of  our  states  is 
63,000  square  miles,  against  Uruguay's 
72,000  square  miles,  and  that  the  aver- 
age population  of  our  states  is  2,100,000 
against  Uruguay's  1,400,000.  Uruguay 
plus  her  industry  and  character  probably 
could  support  three  times  the  popula- 
tion, for  it  is  still  a  country  of  ranches 
rather  than  farms. 

Montevideo  is  the  capital,  and  because 
one's  geography  may  be  hazy  when  it 
comes  to  the  secondary  cities  of  the 
southern  continent,  the  story  of  its  nam- 
ing makes  a  good  memory  tag.    "Monte 


104 


URUGUAY  AND  PARAGUAY 


I 


^  -i^ 


*i«v  p^^  f^*'.  <MW.  J 


iSBI<-'*'"'"***^':"' 


PANORAMIC    VIEW    OF    MONTEVIDEO.    URUGUAY'S    CAPITAL.    CITY 


video!"  exclaimed  a  Spanish  sailor  in  the 
discoverer's  ship,  "See  the  mountain!" 
pointing  to  the  500-foot  "cerro"  or  hill 
which  dominates  the  harbor,  the  nearest 
approach  to  a  mountain  that  far  down 
the  east  coast,  and  the  "mountain"  names 
the  city,  though  it  has  been  utilized  only 
for  a  lighthouse  and  a  fort. 

EXPERTS  IN  FOREIGN  MONEY 

VjONTEVIDEO  has  about  400,000 
population,  and  some  characteris- 
tics of  its  own.  Its  people  are  big, 
strong  white  men  and  women,  as  hearty 
eaters  as  the  Argentinos.  Its  business 
is  done  chiefly  by  Uruguayan  and  Span- 
iards, in  contrast  to  the  Italian  influence 
in  Argentina  and  the  Portuguese  in  Bra- 
zil. Even  more  thaijfany  other  Latin- 
American  country  its  immigration  has 
been  from  the  Basque  provinces  of  Spain, 
and  as  the  solid,  canny  Basque  is  the 
Yankee  of  Spain,  that  explains  many  of 
the  Uruguayan's  commendable  quali- 
ties. 

As  an  illustration  his  respect  for  time. 
The  government  runs  the  electric  light 
business  in  Montevideo,  makes  "juice" 
with  coal,  sells  it  at  twelve  cents  a  kilo- 
watt for  light,  two  cents  for  cooking,  and 
earns  a  profit.  While  you  sit  at  dinner 
the  lights  everywhere  suddenly  grow 
dim  for  a  second,  and  that  is  precisely 
8  p.  m.,  the  government's  way  of  helping 
the  people  set  their  clocks  and  watches. 
Also  a  government  whistle  is  blown  daily 
at  7  a.  m.,  12  noon  and  5  p.  m. 

You  can  take  a  gold  piece  of  any  coun- 
try of  the  world  into  any  little  shop  in 


Montevideo  and  get  change  for  it  in 
Uruguayan  money  at  the  correct  ex- 
change. In  this  respect  Montevideo  is  a 
bigger  financial  center  than  New  York. 
For  many  years  Uruguay  had  no  cur- 
rency of  its  own,  but  did  business  with 
other  nations'  money,  chiefly  foreign  sil- 
ver from  seventeen  different  countries. 
Now  it  has  paper  pesos,  silver  half  pesos 
and  nickel  five-cent  and  two-cent  pieces, 
but  still  uses  foreign  gold  coins. 

Another  peculiarity  of  business  in 
Montevideo  is  that  everybody  shuts  up 
shop  at  12  o'clock  and  stays  away  until 
2 — stores,  warehouses,  banks,  offices,  gov- 
ernment departments.  The  eight-hour 
working  day  is  compulsory  by  law 
throughout  Uruguay,  and  employes  must 
also  have  an  hour  and  a  half  for  lunch. 

By  taking  two  hours  out  of  the  mid- 
dle of  the  day  business  men  manage  to 
legally  stretch  it  at  both  ends- 

The  Uruguayan  calls  himself  an  "Ori- 
ental." His  republic  is  known  as  the 
"Republic  Oriental  del  Uruguay" — re- 
public east  of  the  Uruguay  river) — and 
also  familiarly  the  'Banda  Oriental,"  the 
latter  meaning  the  eastern  party  or  side. 
This  is  a  memory  from  days  when  Uru- 
guay was  the  easternmost  Spanish  pos- 
session in  South  America,  and  also  of 
days  when  the  Uruguayan  stoutly  fought 


the  Spanish,  Portuguese,  Argentinos  and 
Brazilians  for  national  independence. 

FARMERS  ARE  FIGHTERS 

F  TRUGUAY  comes  pretty  near  being 
the  country  where  a  million  farmers 
rise  up  over  night  with  shotguns  to  resist 
invasion.  Along  with  its  progress  since 
independence  was  wrested  from  Argen- 
tina and  Brazil  in  1828  there  has  gone 
sturdy  fighting.  Before  that  the  Span- 
iards and  Portuguese  were  fighting  each 
other,  using  Uruguay  as  a  sort  of  Bel- 
gium. And  before  that  the  country  was 
inhabited  by  one  of  the  most  warlike 
Indian  tribes  in  South  America,  the 
Charruas,  a  big,  strong,  taciturn  race 
with  abality  to  organize  for  war  and 
enough  military  skill  to  defend  itself 
against  the  Spaniards  for  nearly  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half,  though  ignorant  of  iron 
or  copper  and  fighting  with  arrows  and 
stone  axes. 

Immediately  after  independence  was 
secured  a  quarrel  rose  between  two  of 
the  military  liberators,  Lavalleja  and 
Rivera,  who  fought  a  big  battle  in  which 
the  two  armies  were  distinguished  by  red 
and  white  badges.  This  gave  rise  to  the 
Colorado  and  Blanco  parties  of  Uru- 
guayan politics,  who  have  frequently 
resorted  to  arms  to  settle  political  ques- 
tions. The  last  fracas,  amounting  to 
civil  war,  was  in  1904,  when  a  Brazilian 
military  officer,  crossing  into  Uruguay, 
was  killed  in  a  quarrel,  and  his  soldiers 
crossed  after  him  seeking  vengeance.  The 
Colorado  government  ordered  federal 
troops  north  to  eject  the  Brazilians.  The 


URUGUAY  AND  PARAGUAY 


105 


Blanco  party,  being  strong  in  that  sec- 
tion, regarded  this  as  an  invasion,  and 
ten  months'  costly  fighting  followed, 
with  victory  for  the  government. 

The  Colorados  are  Uruguay's  old-line 
southern  republicans,  so  to  speak,  and 
the  Blancos  her  hard-shelled  northern 
democrats.  There  has  been  a  continuous 
Colorado  rule  for  more  than  fifty  years, 
but  the  country  has  gone  ahead  despite 
political  animosity.  Politics  has  been 
the  chief  outdoor  sport  of  the  hardy,  en- 
terprising people,  and  the  country  has 
been  too  solid  to  wreck.  But  now  in- 
dustry is  replacing  politics  as  an  interest. 
Tired  of  both  old  parties,  the*  younger 
element  among  the  Orientals  started  a 
healthy  "Bull  Moose"  movement  in  the 
recent  November  elections,  and  other 
new  elements  in  Uruguayan  politics 
promise  better  things  for  the  country. 
One  is  a  new  constitution  that  provides  a 
certain  number  of  offices  for  the  minor- 
ity. Another  is  the  secret  ballot,  which 
will  allow  voters  to  select  their  own  can- 
didates, instead  of  yielding  to  intimida- 
tion. Another  is  the  creation  of  houses 
of  representatives  in  each  of  Uruguay's 
nineteen  departments,  which  correspond 
to  our  states,  and  this  will  strengthen 
local  administration  and  be  of  great  value 
as  political  education. 


ARTICLE  LXII 
INDIVIDUALISM  FEATURES 
TRADING  BY  URUGUAYANS 

jV/rONTEVIDEO,  Dec.  28.— Uruguay 
might  be  regarded  as  an  experi- 
ment station  for  many  an  American  busi- 
ness house  building  up  its  world  trade 
organization— the  experimenting  being 
for  the  American  account,  however,  not 
the  Uruguayan,  because  the  latter  thor- 
oughly knows  the  game. 

A  country  with  the  area  of  Nebraska, 
but  less  population  than  Philadelphia. 
Absolutely  distinct  in  nationality  and 
spirit — not  an  annex  of  its  bigger  neigh- 
bors in  business  any  more  than  nation- 
ality. Set  down  in  easy  reach  of  Ameri- 
can concerns  who  have  begun  business 
with  countries  like  Brazil  and  Argen-# 
tina,  the  latter  big  enough  for  substan- 
tial sales  and  even  branch  houses,  it 
calls  for  different  business  methods. 
Being  too  small  for  direct  connections, 
goods  must  be  introduced  and  business 
built  up  through  importers  handling 
many  lines.  Thoroughly  typical  of  many 
small  countries  in  the  world,  whose  in- 
dividual purchases  may  be  modest  but 
which  combined  make  up  a  large  aggre- 
gate. And  a  country  where  business  in- 
tegrity and  skill  offer  a  safe  school  for 
the  intelligent  and  earnest  beginner. 

The  first  step  is  to  make  connections 
with  an  importing  house  in  Montevideo. 
These  houses  are,  variously,  Uruguayan, 
Spanish,  Italian,  German  and  British, 
the    latter   not   so   well    represented    as 


other  nationalities,  and  ourselves  hardly 
at  all,  although  American  goods  are  han- 
dled by  importers  and  have  often  gained 
a  good  foothold.  In  the  absence  of  an 
American  connection,  the  next  best  thing 
would  be  one  with  a  concern  specializing 
in  American  lines. 

In  many  cases  American  houses  have 
already  made  a  beginning  by  filling  small 
orders  from  a  Montevideo  importer.  If 
he  is  satisfactory  as  a  representative, 
then  steps  can  be  taken  to  enlarge  the 
business  by  teamwork,  getting  his  views 
about  extension  of  the  trade,  following 
his  instructions  about  shipping  and  other 
details,  and  backing  him  up  with  adver- 
tising and  perhaps  saleswork.  If  a  con- 
nection must  be  found,  information  can 
be  secured  from  the  Montevideo  branch 
of  the  National  City  Bank,  which  main- 
tains a  commercial  department  for  such 
purposes. 

Following  your  representative's  in- 
structions is  the  first  thing  and  the  big- 
gest. In  world  trade  literature  this  sub- 
ject may  seem  trite,  but  in  Montevideo's 
everyday  business  it  is  one  of  everlasting 
interest. 

Your  representative's  mark  may  be  a 
diamond  inclosing  initials,  with  destina- 
tion, thus: 


The  shipment  will  also  bear  a  num- 
ber, perhaps  his  order  number,  or  an  arbi- 
trary number  for  identification — say  his 
number  is  4777. 

Maybe  your  shipping  department  gets 
the  mark  right,  but  scrambles  the  num- 
ber so  that  it  is  4747.  Or  the  number 
is  right,  but  a  circle  surrounds  the  in- 
itials instead  of  a  diamond.  Maybe  mark 
and  number  are  both  correct,  but  some- 
body in  the  shipping  room  stencils  addi- 
tional information  —  an  advertising 
phrase,  a  trade-mark,  or  the  word 
"Mike"  to  guide  the  driver. 

Following   this    shipment   to    Monte- 


video, we  find  a  group  of  customs  officials 
puzzling  over  the  word  "Mike."  For 
they  make  very  careful  comparison  of  all 
marks  on  packages  with  those  in  the  in- 
voice, and  Mike  isn't  on  the  invoice,  and 
the  officials  do  not  read  English  and 
don't  know  what  he  means.  These  su- 
perfluous and  erroneous  marks  have  been 
giving  real  trouble  in  Montevideo  lately. 
The  Uruguayan  customs  house  is  a 
very  decent  institution — as  customs 
houses  go.  Operating  under  a  very  old 
law,  the  officials  administer  it  as  intelli- 
gently as  possible  to  simplify  routine  and 
stimulate  trade.  No  consular  invoice  is 
required,  and  while  Uruguay  has  some 
industries  of  her  own  to  protect  and 
raises  most  of  her  revenue  by  import  du- 
ties, these  are  moderate  compared  with 
either  Brazil  or  Argentina.  Roughly 
speaking,  imported  merchandise  in  Bra- 
zil costs  150  per  cent  more  than  New 
York  retail  prices,  100  per  cent  in  Ar- 
gentina, and  from  50  to  75  per  cent  in 
Uruguay.  Of  course,  there  are  wide 
variations,  according  to  the  articles  and 
qualities.  Such  documents  as  the  Uru- 
guayan customs  house  does  require  should 
be  complete  and  correct,  and  clearing  fa- 
cilitated for  the  importer.  Recently 
there  has  been  complaint  of  missing  in- 
surance bills  and  secondary  documents 
not  forwarded  because  thought  unneces- 
sary. The  Uruguayan  importer's  sug- 
gestions about  classification  of  goods 
often  reduces  duties  through  some  techni- 
cality. 

IMPORTERS  ARE  CAPABLE 

AN  AMERICAN  hosiery  salesman 
visited  Montevideo  and  sold  goods 
to  a  number  of  merchants,  promising  de- 
livery by  October  15.  Labor  and  ship- 
ping trouble  made  it  impossible  to  deliver 
on  schedule,  but  each  customer  received 
a  special  delivery  letter  from  an  Ameri- 
can manufacturer,  stating  that  delivery 
could  be  made  a  month  later,  and  that 
any  customer  could  cancel  his  order  if  he 
wished.  There  was  not  a  single  can- 
cellation because  merchants  knew  in  ad- 
vance when  they  were  to  get  those  goods, 


MONTEVIDEO     WATERFRONT.     SHOWING     MODERN    CONCRETE    WHARVES 


106 


URUGUAY  AND  PARAGUAY 


and  could  plan  accordingly.  That  is 
teamwork. 

Uruguay  is  a  small-scale  model  laying 
bare  to  view  the  whole  mechanism  of 
Latin-American  credit.  Importers  in 
Montevideo  supply  retailers  all  over  the 
little  republic.  The  retailers'  customers, 
being  farmers,  pay  their  bills  largely  ac- 
cording to  crops.  Importers  give  the  re- 
tailers six  months'  credit,  and  in  turn 
require  three  months'  credit  from  the 
foreign  exporter..  It  is  a  mistake  to  as- 
sume, as  many  American  and  British 
manufacturers  have  done,  that  this 
amounts  to  financing  the  importer's  busi- 
ness. It  simply  gives  him  the  necessary 
time  for  shipment,  clearing  through  cus- 
toms, distributing  to  retailers  and  dis- 
counting their  paper,  when  he  is  ready 
to  take  up  the  ninety-day  sight  acceptance 
which  has  become  standard. 

Teamwork  in  selling  is  welcomed  by 
the  Montevideo 
importer,  and  when 
done  thoroughly 
will  greatly  in- 
crease the  turnover 
for  a  given  product 
or  line.  The  busy 
importer,  handling 
many  lines,  is  not 
able  to  give  inten- 
sive sales  effort  to 
a  particular  prod- 
uct, and  in  the  ab- 
sence of  consumer 
demand  may  not 
be  disposed  to  han- 
dle it  at  all.  But 
a  salesman  spend- 
ing two  or  three 
months  in  the 
country,  visiting 
retailers  and  cre- 
a  t  i  n  g  consumer 
demand  by  adver- 
tising, demonstra- 
tion and  sampling, 

can  make  a  place  for  a  desirable  article. 
Commercial  travelers  pay  $200  license  in 
Montevideo  and  $100  additional  for  the 
rest  of  Uruguay.  That  they  should 
speak  Spanish  goes  without  saying. 

CONSERVATIVE  CUSTOMERS 

'TPHE  duty  on  advertising  matter  sent 
into  Uruguay  is  rather  steep,  and 
increases  according  to  the  number  of  col- 
ors. Plain  black  and  white  circulars  or 
pamphlets  pay  a  duty  of  fifty  cents  a 
pound,  two-color  literature  $1  a  pound, 
and  three-color  printing  $1.50.  But  by 
a  liberal  interpretation  of  this  tariff  re- 
quirement the  Uruguayan  customs  offi- 
cials allow  a  reasonable  quantity  of  ad- 
vertising matter  to  enter  duty  free  if  it 
is  packed  in  the  same  case  with  a  ship- 
ment of  goods.  There  are  no  stipula- 
tions as  to  printing  or  weight,  but  the 


advertising  must  refer  to  the  product 
that  it  accompanies.  It  may  also  refer 
to  other  products  of  the  same  concern, 
even  though  they  are  not  included  in  the 
shipment — that  is,  a  shipment  of  patent 
screw  drivers  might  be  accompanied  by 
pamphlets  describing  the  same  manufac- 
turer's braces,  bits,  chisels  and  planes, 
so  long  as  the  screw  drivers  were  de- 
scribed. 

The  Uruguayan  consumer  is  probably 
the  most  conservative  of  all  the  Latin 
Americans  and  sticks  to  preferences  of 
his  own,  so  that  goods  accepted  in  Ar- 
gentina or  Brazil  might  not  find  a  mar- 
ket with  him.  The  people  took  to  the 
metric  system  so  slowly  that  it  was  nec- 
essary to  prohibit  legally  the  use  of  old 
terms  like  "vara"  for  the  metric  equiva- 
lent to  the  yard,  and  such  terms  are  still 
used  in  documents  evasively,  being  writ- 


THE    ATHENAEUM   AT   MONTEVIDEO 

ten  with  an  initial  and  a  dash  ("v — ") 
to  comply  with  the  law.  But  this  con- 
servatism is  an  advantage  to  the  concern 
willing  to  really  create  a  market  for 
goods,  because  when  the  U  ruguayan  con- 
sumer likes  your  stuff  and  distinguishes 
it  by  your  trade-mark  it  is  hard  for  the 
other  fellow  to  switch  him  to  something 
else. 

Montevideo  would  make  an  excellent 
place  for  a  free  port  into  which  mer- 
chandise might  be  shipped,  carried  in 
stock  and  distributed  to  Argentina,  Para- 
guay and  southern  Brazil.  Like  our- 
selves, the  Latin-American  countries  are 
beginning  to  see  advantages  in  re-export- 
ing without  red  tape,  and  it  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  Uruguay,  by  reason  of  its  po- 
sition and  business  foresight,  may  be  the 
pioneer  in  this  matter. 


ARTICLE  LXIII 

MAKE  REFRIGERATOR  CARS 
SWIM  TO  LATIN  AMERICA 

MONTEVIDEO,  Jan.  1.— The 
American  refrigerator  car  was  cre- 
ated by  the  American  meat  packer.  It 
is  an  indispensable  tool  of  the  industry. 
Through  its  use  other  American  indus- 
tries have  grown — dairying,  fruit  grow- 
ing, winter  vegetables. 

The  American  packer  is  now  actively 
developing  meat  industries  in  South 
America.  He  finds  that  he  cannot  get 
along  without  the  refrigerator  car. 
World  markets  must  be  reached  with  his 
perishables.  On  the  ocean,  of  course,  the 
car  becomes  a  refrigerator  ship.  But 
the  refrigerator  ship  needs  development 
on  refrigerator  car  lines  so  that  the  in- 
creasing volume  of  South  American  meat 
production  will 
find  adequate  dis- 
tribution. There 
is  a  shortage  of  re- 
frigerator shipping 
space.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  provide 
more,  and  to  se- 
cure some  of  the 
flexibility  of  the 
American  refriger- 
ator car  by  giving 
virtually  all  ships 
some  refrigeration. 
There  is  an  oppor- 
tunity to  build  up 
some  of  our  own 
industries  through 
return  cargo  on  re- 
frigerator ships, 
selling  fruit, 
cheese,  eggs  and 
butter  to  Latin- 
American  coun- 
tries. 

"O  u  r  new 
freight  steamships  are  now  coming  down 
here  almost  daily,  but  very  few  of  them 
are  insulated  and  provided  with  cooling 
apparatus,"  says  W.  F.  Price,  general 
manager  of  the  Frigerifico  Artigas,  in 
Montevideo.  "I  believe  the  United 
States  shipping  board  will  find  it  profit- 
able to  provide  refrigeration  on  every 
vessel  it  builds,  both  passenger  and 
freight.  This  does  not  mean  insulating 
the  whole  ship,  limiting  its  cargo  flexi- 
bility, but  insulating  one  or  two  holds 
so  that  perishables  can  be  mixed  with 
other  cargo.  The  British  have  been  more 
far-sighted  than  ourselves  in  this  matter 
— a  large  percentage  o*  their  ships  are 
equipped  to  carry  perishables." 

REFRIGERATOR  SHIPS  NEEDED 

TPHE  Frigerifico  Artigas  is  the  Uru- 
guayan  branch   of   Morris  &   Co., 
Chicago,  and  was  named  after  Uruguay's 
liberator  and  father,  General  Jose  Arti- 


URUGUAY  AND  PARAGUAY 


107 


gas.  Mr.  Price  has  given  a  good  deal  of 
thought  to  this  subject,  not  only  from 
the  standpoint  of  shipping  Uruguay's 
packing  house  products  to  Europe  and 
the  United  States,  but  developing  ocean 
trade  in  other  perishables  handled  by  our 
packers  at  home. 

"As  a  result  of  political  agitation 
against  the  packers  at  home,"  he  contin- 
ued, "the  British  have  diverted  much 
of  their  refrigerator  tonnage  from  South 
America  to  their  colonies.  They  are 
alarmed  by  the  cries  of  'meat  trust,'  and 
taking  steps  to  develop  their  own  indus- 
tries in  Australia  and  South  Africa.  It 
looks  now  as  though  trade  to  Europe  will 


makes  them  potential  customers  for  our 
cheese,  butter,  eggs  and  fresh  fruit. 

"We  are  now  planning  a  little  experi- 
ment. Just  about  the  time  the  little 
red  hin  in  our  Corn  Belt  stops  laying 
and  goes  into  winter  quarters  the  little 
red  hen  of  Uruguay  starts  work,  seasons 
in  the  two  countries  being  exactly  oppo- 
site. When  our  little  red  hen  starts  her 
spring  drive  next  April  eggs  will  be 
bringing  winter  prices  in  Montevideo. 
We  are  going  to  bring  down  some  April 
eggs  in  American  egg  cases  and  put  them 
on  the  Montevideo  market.  Six  months 
later,  in  October,  when  the  Uruguayan 
hens  get  busy  again,  we  shall  send  the 
cases  back  full.    April  eggs  at  home  are 


has  still  to  be  developed  through  flexible 
distribution  by  means  of  refrigerator 
ships  corresponding  to  our  refrigerator 
cars,  backed  by  consumer  education. 

One  of  the  staple  swindles  sold  to  the 
American  farmer  by  Get-Rich-Quick- 
Wallingford  from  time  to  time  is  a  mys- 
terious device  for  making  two  pounds 
of  butter  out  of  one.  This  contrivance 
simply  churns  an  extra  pound  of  milk 
or  water  into  a  pound  of  butter.  To 
sell  such  butter  is  contrary  to  our  food 
laws,  so  that  the  farmer,  after  buying  the 
contrivance  and  starting  out  on  this  un- 
expected road  to  fortune,  discovers  that 
he  is  headed  for  jail  instead. 

In    Uruguay,    Argentina    and    Brazil 


BUSINESS    ACTIVITY    ON    THE    PABANA,    SHOWING    QUEBRACHO    LOGS    READY    FOR    SHIPMENT   TO   WORLD'S   MARKETS 


have  to  be  conducted  chiefly  in  Ameri- 
can refrigerator  ships. 

"We  need  refrigeration  to  reach  our 
own  markets.  Today  spring  lamb,  is  in 
season  in  Uruguay.  The  Uruguayans 
do  not  eat  it  to  any  extent.  We  could 
easily  ship  it  to  New  York  if  there  were 
facilities,  and  choice  cuts  of  beef  and 
delicacies  like  pork  tenderloins.  Because 
the  local  market  does  not  take  pork  ten- 
derloins we  are  compelled  to  make  them 
up  into  sausage! 

"Uruguay  and  Argentina  have  not 
developed  dairying  to  the  same  extent  as 
ourselves.  They  are  still  countries  of  big 
ranches,  specializing  in  livestock.     That 


the  cheapest  of  the  year.  Put  into  cold 
storage  for  our  own  winter  use  they  must 
be  held  six  to  ten  months,  accumulating 
storage  and  interest  charges  and  losses. 
But  if  a  market  can  be  developed  in  Uru- 
guay and  Argentina  these  storage  costs 
will  be  avoided  here,  because  our  April 
egg  can  be  eaten  by  the  Uruguayan  con- 
sumer in  May  or  June.  And  the  fresh 
October  egg  of  Uruguay  will  arrive  in 
the  United  States  for  the  peak  prices  of 
December  and  January." 
ENTER  AMERICAN  BUTTER 
'"PHE  southern  countries  are  good  cus- 
tomers for  cheese  and  butter,  as  well 
as  lard,  cooking  fats  and  other  by-prod- 
ucts of  our  packing  industry.    But  trade 


such  heavily  watered  butter  is  not  only 
sold  legally,  but  staple,  and  the  only  kind 
of  butter  most  people  know.  They  like 
butter  soft,  and  do  not  realize  how  much 
of  their  butter  money  goes  for  water.  In 
Argentina  one  large  creamery  now  makes 
hard,  heavy  butter  like  our  own,  and  it 
is  gradually  finding  a  market,  though 
consumer  taste  for  this  more  honest  prod- 
uct develops  very  slowly.  Through  ad- 
vertising, explanation  and  demonstration 
it  would  probably  be  possible  to  create 
demand  for  American  hard  butter  in 
those  countries. 

In  the  Central  American  countries, 
which  have  no  dairy  industries  of  their 
own,  tinned  butter  of  standard  density 


108 


URUGUAY  AND  PARAGUAY 


■     -  '         . 

DOCKS    AND    SHIPPING    FACILITIES   AT  ASUNCION  ARE    INADEQUATE   AND    ENLARGED    PORT     WORKS     ARE     UNDER     CONSTRUCTION 


but  inferior  quality,  is  staple.  Never  hav- 
ing had  an  opportunity  to  try  butter  of 
mild  flavor,  marketed  through  refrigera- 
tion, the  people  actually  relish  a  product 
so  rank  that  it  would  be  classed  as  cook- 
ing butter  in  the  United  States,  and  not 
very  good  cooking  butter  at  that.  There- 
fore, there  is  another  field  for  educating 
butter  taste  in  those  countries  and  cre- 
ating new  outlets  for  American  butter 
and  providing  return  cargo  for  our  re- 
frigerator ships. 
U.  S.  FRUITS  A  DELICACY 
t^RESH  fruit  from  the  United  States  is 
a  great  Latin-American  delicacy. 
Apples  from  Washington  and  Oregon 
and  pears  from  California  are  in  the 
market  almost  all  year  round,  while  the 
more  tender  peaches,  apricots,  plums, 
fresh  prunes  and  grapes  from  our  Pacific 
coast  appear  in  the  fruit  dealer's  shop  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  Buenos  Aires  and  Monte- 
video almost  as  soon  as  in  New  York, 
and  make  a  bigger  display  during  their 
limited  season  than  the  local  fruit.  But 
at  what  prices!  Apples  retailed  for  a 
nickel  at  home  cost  twenty-five  cents  at 
least,  with  corresponding  prices  for  other 
American  fruits.  There  is  no  good  busi- 
ness reason  for  these  exorbitant  prices, 
except  that  American  fruit  is  handled  in 
small  lots  as  a  luxury,  where  with  Amer- 
ican refrigerator  cars  on'  the  ocean,  and 
greater  volume,  and  intelligent  develop- 
ment of  the  business  generally,  the  stuff 
could  be  brought  within  reach  of  many 


more  Latin  Americans.  The  box  apple 
from  the  Pacific  coast  could  be  supple- 
mented with  the  barrel  apple  of  the  At- 
lantic coast,  and  sold  for  cooking  as  well 
as  dessert. 

The  east  coast  of  South  America 
from  the  Amazon  straight  down  to  the 
Plata  has  undeveloped  possibilities  in 
growing  and  exporting  fruit.  Argen- 
tina and  Uruguay  could  unquestionably 
raise  apples,  pears,  peaches  and  other 
temperate  zone  fruits  with  scientific 
adaptation  of  the  right  variety  to  the 
right  locality.  Paraguay  could  add  semi- 
tropical  fruits  to  her  orange  industry. 
Brazil  is  a  fruit  grower's  paradise,  pro- 
ducing tropical  dainties  capable  of  mar- 
ket development  in  other  countries.  But 
there  is  so  little  understanding  of  the 
fruit  industry  as  we  know  it  that  these 
countries  fail  to  supply  the  masses 
of  their  own  people.  Horticultural  sci- 
ence is  almost  unknown,  modern  grad- 
ing, containers,  packing,  refrigeration 
and  transportation  undreamed  of,  and 
fruit  remains  a  costly  luxury  for  the 
well-to-do. 

FRUIT   GROWING  NEGLECTED 

TPAKE  the  banana  as  an  illustration.  It 
grows  in  every  Brazilian  garden,  as 
far  south  as  Sao  Paulo,  with  plantations 
supplying  Brazilian  cities  and  providing 
bananas  for  export  to  Uruguay  and  Ar- 
gentina. Yet  with  the  splendid  bananas 
which  have  been  developed  by  our  meth- 
ods in   Central  America,   and   with  re- 


frigerating facilities  on  our  ships,  we 
could  probably  supply  Rio  de  Janeiro 
with  better  bananas,  and  maybe  at  lower 
prices.  For  the  Brazilian  banana  is 
small  and  of  inferior  quality,  little  at- 
tention having  been  given  to  varieties 
and  culture.  Brazil's  capital  is  supplied 
by  slow  mule  transportation,  a  few 
bunches  jogging  all  day  to  market,  as 
against  our  shiploads. 

Oranges  grow  virtually  wild  in  Bra- 
zil and  Paraguay,  and  of  superlative 
quality  when  fresh.  But  they  are  un- 
graded, often  shipped  green,  the  corky 
fruit  along  with  the  rest,  and  for 
lack  of  refrigeration  your  orange  in  Bue- 
nos Aires  and  Montevideo  is  often  stale 
in  flavor.  Florida  and  California  oranges 
piled  beside  native  fruit  would  probably 
sell  better,  and  often  be  better  value. 
Grapefruit  is  virtually  unknown  even 
in  Brazil,  though  it  could  be  grown  for 
export,  as  could  the  alligator  pear,  the 
mango  and  other  tropical  dainties  which 
we  are  fast  building  into  staple  prod- 
ucts. What  we  have  done  with  the 
long-distance  cantaloupe  could  also  be 
done  with  fruits  like  the  tropical  papaya, 
which  is  a  sort  of  super-cantaloupe, 
needing  only  a  little  demonstration  to 
find  its  public  in  the  United  States. 

Now  that  our  railroads  are  being  ex- 
tended over  ocean  routes  through  our 
merchant  marine,  the  American  refrig- 
erator car  must  be  taught  to  swim.  It 
has  overcome  distance  and  built  volume 
at   home,    obliterating   seasons   and    en- 


URUGUAY  AND  PARAGUAY 


109 


GENERAL,  VIEW  OF  THE   PORT  OP  ASUNCION,   PARAGUAY'S    CAPITAL  CITY 


riching  our  diet,  putting  upon  the  poor 
man's  table  today  the  rich  man's  luxu- 
ries of  yesterday.  South  America  sim- 
ply offers  a  new  field  for  it  in  distance, 
seasons  and  the  development  of  volume 
both  ways. 


ARTICLE  LXIV 

URUGUAY  IS  FINANCIALLY 
STRONGEST  OF  GROUP 

MONTEVIDEO,  Jan.  2.— Most 
Latin-American  countries  have  a 
magnificent  front  door.  But  one  walks 
straight  through  it  and  out  the  back 
door  into  an  undeveloped  countryside, 
short  of  roads,  schools,  sanitation,  health 
and  material   comfort  generally. 

This  is  partly  due  to  lack  of  capital, 
but  also  to  the  Latin  American's  par-, 
tiality  for  spending  money  on  things  that 
he  can  see.  Handsome  public  buildings 
and  boulevards  in  the  capital  he  can 
point  to  with  pride,  whereas  water- 
works and  sewers  for  a  country  town 
are  hidden  away  underground.  If  an 
epidemic  hits  the  country  town,  he  is 
quickly  converted  to  sanitation  and  wants 
a  system  installed  that  very  day.  Once 
converted  to  an  improvement,  he  has  the 
virtue  of  being  a  good  spender,  and  will 
put  his  money  liberally  into  the  very 
best. 

In  all  the  southern  continent  little 
Uruguay  is  most  determined  to  have  a 
countryside  in  keeping  with  her  capital 
city.  Aided  by  American  engineers  and 
bankers,  she  built  waterworks  and  sew- 


age systems  in  three  of  her  interior  cities 
during  the  war  under  great  handicaps, 
and  is  now  going  ahead  with  similar  in- 
stallations for  other  towns. 

The  "Oriental  Republic"  has  about  a 
dozen  small  cities  and  towns  ranging 
from  20,000  population  in  Paysandu, 
Salto  and  Mercedes,  down  to  centers  of 
5000  population.  Virtually  all  the  im- 
portant centers  are  river  ports,  some  ac- 
cessible to  ocean  vessels,  and  have  meat 
packing  and  beef  extract  plants,  with 
respectable  local  industries  and  thriving 
trade  in  wool,  hides  and  country  pro- 
duce generally. 

Sanitary  conditions  in  these  places 
were  unsatisfactory.  Water  was  hauled 
from  rivers  or  drawn  from  wells, 
clothes  were  washed  by  the  river  side 
and  cesspools  were  a  constant  danger. 
The  Uruguayan  Government,  with 
characteristic  enterprise,  drew  up  plans 
for  waterworks  and  drainage  in  the  cities 
of  Paysandu,  Salto  and  Mercedes  shortly 
after  the  European  war  started.  A 
$5,000,000  issue  of  federal  government 
bonds  covered  the  construction  cost,  and 
the  finance,  engineering  and  construction 
were  undertaken  by  the  American.  In- 
ternational Corporation,  of  New  York; 
Stone  &  Webster,  of  Boston,  and  the 
Ulen  Contracting  Co.,  of  Chicago. 

URUGUYAN  ADMIRES  BEAUTY 

CIXTEEN  THOUSAND  tons  of  ma- 
terial— water  pipe,  steel,  machinery 
and  tools — had  to  be  transported  from 
the  United  States  at  a  time  when  ships 
were  scarce,  railroads  congested  and  costs 


rising  on  every  hand.  The  contractors 
put  the  job  through  in  a  year  less  than 
the  contract  time,  nevertheless,  by  close 
attention  to  details.  Their  men  rode 
with  railroad  shipments  in  the  United 
States  to  keep  them  on  the  move,  a 
schooner  was  purchased  to  carry  mate- 
rial on  the  7000-mile  voyage,  taking 
back  cargoes  of  tankage,  bone  and  horn, 
and  the  job  was  pushed  along  with  char- 
acteristic Yankee  short  cuts  that  saved 
time  and  money.  Despite  war  difficul- 
ties the  original  cost  estimates  were  not 
exceeded. 

Some  of  the  short  cuts  had  to  be  sold 
to  the  Uruguayans. 

For  example,  the  Latin  American  likes 
things  neatly  finished.  We  are  satisfied 
if  a  contrivance  does  the  job,  but  he 
wants  it  good  looking  as  well,  and  there 
is  something  inside  him  that  hurts  when 
things  are  left  in  the  rough. 

We  make  concrete  in  wooden  forms, 
smooth  off  the  joints  a  little  and  let  it 
go  at  that.  Uruguayans  insist  upon  giv- 
ing it  a  smooth  and  sometimes  ornamen- 
tal coat  of  plaster.  The  Yankee  con- 
tractor built  a  test  section  of  concrete 
with  smooth  steel  forms  and  invited  the 
government  officials  to  inspect  it  for  good 
looks,  when  they  promptly  decided  that 
plastering  was  unnecessary  on  that  kind 
of  work! 

Cement  sewer  pipe  made  by  hand  in 
the  Uruguayan  manner  took  half  an 
hour  each.  When  the  contractors  set 
up  a  machine  for  casting  them  in  thirty 
seconds  the  Uruguayans  were  a  bit  nerv- 
ous, thinking  that  such   slapdash  work 


110 


URUGUAY  AND  PARAGUAY 


might  not  be  strong,  tight  or,  most  of  all, 
smooth.  This  latter  quality  is  valued 
by  the  Latin  American  even  in  work  to 
be  put  underground.  When  samples  of 
machine  pipe  were  inspected  and  tested, 
however,  all  apprehension  disappeared, 
and  later  the  government  officials  were 
delighted  because  the  pipe-casting  ma- 
chine saved  a  year  on  the  whole  job  and 
gave  them  the  improved  cities  that  much 
sooner. 

NATIVES  FAITHFUL  WORKERS 

HpHESE  cities  now  have  altogether 
eighty-nine  miles  of  sewers  and 
eighty-two  miles  of  water  pipe,  with  150- 
foot  steel  standpipes  in  Paysandu  and 
Salto,  and  a  concrete  reservoir  on  a  hill 
near  Mercedes.  People  can  draw  pure 
filtered  water  out  of  public  taps  at  every 
fire  hydrant,  or  have  it  run  into  their 
home. 

The  contractors  speak  in  high  terms 
of  the  Uruguayan  as  a  laborer.  For  a 
dollar  a  day  he  would  dig  six  and  one- 
half  cubic  yards  of  deep  ditch  in  his 
legal  eight  hours,  and  because  coal  was 
$30  to  $40  a  ton,  American  digging  ma- 
chinery could  not  compete  with  him — he 
got  the  whole  job  of  170  miles.  When 
he  heard  about  the  Yankee  idea  of  earn- 
ing money  by  working  harder  or  longer, 
he  took  to  it  so  eagerly  that  a  single 
foreman  could  handle  a  gang  of  more 
than  one  hundred  men.  The  whole  job 
was  as  exciting  as  a  Yankee  circus.  When 
work  was  finished  in  one  town  every- 
body hiked  to  the  next;  some  in  their 
eagerness  got  there  a  week  ahead. 

Even  more  interesting  than  the  con- 
struction work  has  been  the  educational 
work  leading  up  to  the  passing  of  the 
necessary  laws  under  which  the  first  three 
cities  were  improved,  and  the  later  leg- 
islation under  which  practically  all  the 
towns  in  Uruguay  will  get  waterworks 
and  sewers.  Thomas  S.  Sheppard,  who 
represents  the  Ulen  Contracting  Co.  in 
Montevideo,  says  that  it  has  been  largely 
self-education  by  the  Uruguayans,  aided 
by  such  technical  information  as  they 
needed,  supplied  by  American  engineers 
and  business  men. 

To  begin  with,  there  is  the  lack  of  de- 
velopment in  a  new  continent  character- 
istic of  all  Latin  America  today,  backed 
by  the  ruggedness  of  country  life  in  all 
the  southern  republics. 

The  countryman  is  a  pioneer,  often 
part  Indian,  plus  a  European  peasant. 
The  Uruguayan  laborer  eats  the  sim- 
plest food,  will  make  his  home  in  the 
barest  hut  and  take  his  noonday  nap  on 
the  damp  ground.  Comfort  as  we  reckon 
it  is  just  being  discovered  by  Latin 
America  as  something  desirable'  for  the 
whole  population.  Even  in  the  cities 
there  has  been  luxury  for  the  iew  and 
primitive  living  conditions  for  the  many. 


tural  steel  and  other  materials,  Mr.  Shep- 
pard says.  Apartment  houses  on  the 
American  model  would  also  be  very  wel- 
come, but  the  cost  of  imported  building 
materials  today  would  make  rents  pro- 
hibitive. 


SOUND  AND  IN  DEBT 

QTARTING  out  to  raise  the  national 
standard  of  living,  the  Latin-Ameri- 
can administrator  welcomes  technical 
counsel  and  admires  Yankee  practical- 
ity, but  insists  upon  taking  his  own 
time.  For  once,  the  salesman  might  sell 
him  a  sanitary  system  on  enthusiasm,  but 
not  the  next  time.  Months  pass,  and 
maybe  years,  while  laws  are  being  drawn 
up  and  debated,  and  the  impatient  sales- 
man would  often  despair  of  progress. 
But  "Paciencia!"  is  the  word.  The 
proposition  is  probably  going  steadily 
along. 

Look  at  it  from  the  Latin-American 
standpoint,  and  there  is  reason  for  de- 
liberation. In  Uruguay,  as  an  example, 
along  with  the  most  stable  finance  on  the 
southern  continent,  there  is  the  largest 
national  debt  per  capita  in  any  South 
American  country,  more  than  twice  the 
second  largest.  This  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  federal  government  finances 
many  improvements  in  the  departments, 
which  with  us  would  be  carried  out  by 
local  taxation.  But  through  wise  finan- 
cial management,  the  Uruguayan  cur- 
rency was  kept  at  par  during  the  war, 
and  the  Uruguayan  administrator  in- 
tends to  keep  it  there.  Wise  financial 
management  is  simply  judicious  spending 
and  borrowing,  so  where  the  money  is 
coming  from  must  be  the  first  considera- 
tion. That  the  Latin  American  is  sure, 
even  if  deliberate,  is  shown  by  the  financ- 
ing and  carrying  out  of  Uruguayan 
schemes  of  sanitation  during  the  perplexi- 
ties of  war,  one  of  the  few  projects  of 
the  kind  put  through  on  the  southern 
continent  in  that  period. 

Mr.  Sheppard  anticipates  a  building 
boom  in  Montevideo.  More  than  3000 
building  permits  have  been  issued  lately 
to  property  owners  who  will  begin  con- 
struction as  soon  as  building  materials 
and  freight  rates  decrease.  A  thousand 
feet  of  pine  lumber  that  cost  $50  deliv- 
ered in  Montevideo  before  the  war  now 
costs  $165,  with  other  materials  in  the 
same  ratio.  Like  every  other  city  in 
Latin  America,  Montevideo  is  under- 
built, with  houses,  offices,  stores  and  hotel 
accommodations  almost  unobtainable 
during  a  period  of  new  growth.  Hotels 
and  office  buildings  on  American  lines 
would  be  profitable  investments  in  Mon- 
tevideo, even  at  present  prices  for  struc- 


ARTICLE  LXV 

URUGUAYANS  WERE  QUICK 
TO  GRASP  ROTARY  SPIRIT 

]yjONTEVIDEO,  Jan.  5.— Not  all 
American  goods  come  in  packages. 

Montevideo  has  no  American  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  or  American  club  or 
American  branch  houses,  because  the 
country  is  too  small  to  support  the  lat- 
ter. Our  interests  center  in  the  meat- 
packing plants,  the  bank  and  the  export 
of  wool  and  hides  to  the  United  States, 
after  which  business  in  American  mer- 
chandise falls  into  the  hands  of  im- 
porters. 

But  Montevideo  has  a  live  Rotary 
Club,  the  first  in  South  America,  and  its 
establishment  was  a  fine  tribute  to  the 
American  business  spirit.  Having  learned 
that  our  industries  turn  out  character  as 
well  as  automobiles,  and  create  fellow- 
ship along  with  adding  machines,  they 
have  carried  "Rotary"  to  Buenos  Aires 
and  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  are  sending  it 
to  Chile  and  Peru. 

The  thing  started  in  Cincinnati  three 
years  ago  when  Herbert  Coates,  a  big 
importer  handling  many  American 
products  in  Uruguay,  found  himself  idle 
because  the  town  was  full  of  Rotarians 
attending  their  national  convention  and 
nobody  had  time  for  business.  Mr. 
Coates  is  an  Englishman  who  went  rail- 
roading in  Argentina  more  than  thirty 
years  ago  and  later  set  up  in  business 
for  himself  in  Montevideo.  But  he  is 
also  a  Yankee  in  spirit,  because  years 
ago  the  American  Methodists  in  Argen- 
tina sent  him  to  the  United  States  to 
represent  them  in  conference,  and  since 
then  he  has  handled  American  lines. 

This  was  his  first  contact  with  Rotary. 
He  knew  that  Americans  chased  dollars, 
but  here  were  thousands  of  broad-gauged 
business  men  giving  their  time  to  some- 
thing else.  He  went  along  to  see  what 
they  were  doing  and  discovered  that 
Americans  also  chased  ideals. 

ROTARIAN  SPIRIT  APPEALS 

HpHE  Rotarian  spirit  permeated  him  to 
such  a  degree  that  he  started  organ- 
izing a  club  in  Montevideo  as  soon  as  he 
got  home,  and  this  organization,  dating 
from  July  12,  1918,  now  has  thirty-five 
members.  It  is  not  simply  a  Rotary 
Club  of  Americans  set  down  in  South 
America,  but  one  of  Uruguayans,  who 
are  catching  the  spirit  of  fellowship  and 
service  characteristic  of  our  business  life, 
and  through  it  learning  something  new 
about  themselves  as  well  as  about  us.  As 
the  Yankee,  finding  the  Latin  American 


URUGUAY  AND  PARAGUAY 


111 


occupied  chiefly  with  the  amenities  of 
life,  asks,  "When  does  he  do  business?" 
so  the  Latin  American  in  the  United 
States,  finding  the  Yankee  absorbed  in 
business,  asks,  "When  does  he  live?"  In 
movements  like  Rotary  the  Latin  Ameri- 
can is  finding  the  answer. 

It  is  not  easy  for  the  Latin  American 
to  turn  himself  into  a  Rotarian.  In  some 
cases  it  means  turning  himself  into  a  boy 
at  sixty,  and  that  is  often  hard  at  thirty, 
because  the  Latin  American  is  a  serious 
man  and  values  dignity,  and  is  grown  up 
racially  as  well  as  temperamentally  and 
is  formal  even  in  his  play.  But  strange 
new  liberating  influences  are  at  work  on 
the  southern  continent,  breaking  down 
formalities  and  barriers  for  the  women 
as  well  as  the  men,  and  Rotary  is  one  of 
them. 

At  home  Rotarians  make  a  deliberate 
cult  of  informality,  calling  the  other  fel- 
low "Jim"  and  "George"  and  calling 
all  the  Jims  to  their  feet  and  then  the 
Georges  at  their  noonday  lunches.  But 
this  would  be  going  entirely  too  far  for 
Latin  Americans,  because  the  latter  use 
a  special  prefix  of  respect  even  before 
the  other  fellow's  first  name.  So  at  the 
Montevideo  Rotary  Club's  noonday 
meeting  it  is  "Don  Jaime"  and  "Don 
Jorge."  To  distinguish  them  under 
these  clipped  titles  they  are  numbered 
according  to  precedence  in  membership, 
Don  Jaime  Primero,  Don  Jorge  Se- 
gundo,  Don  Enrique  Tercero,  and  so  on. 

SING  ROTARY  SONGS 

■MOONDAY  luncheons  are  held  twice 
a  month.  Rotarian  songs  are  trans- 
lated into  Spanish  and  sung  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  Rotarian  Herman  de  An- 
guera's  slide  trombone.  Don  Herman 
is  secretary  of  the  Montevideo  Y.  M. 
C.  A.,  and  as  the  slide  trombone  is  almost 
unknown  in  South  American  bands  he 
probably  has  the  only  "slip  horn"  in  that 
part  of  the  world.  Singing  livens  and 
loosens  up  everybody,  and  Don  Herman 
is  applauded,  and  dared  to  try  the  long 
Uruguayan  national  anthem. 

Here  are  some  Rotarian  songs  in 
Spanish: 

Rotary!  Rotary! 

Somos  los  del  Rotary, 
Rotary  en  Uruguay, 

Rotary !  Rotary ! 
Viva!  Viva!  Viva! 

ROTARY! 

Eyl!  Eyl!  Estan  aqui, 

Los  Rotarianos, 

Buenos  companeros, 
Eyl  Eyl !  Estan  aqui, 

Listos  a  probar  el  chow ! 

The  latter  is  simply  our  old  irreverent 
friend,  "Hail,  Hail,  the  Gang's  All 
Here!"  There  being  no  Spanish  equiva- 
lent for  "hail,"  it  has  been  spelled  pho- 
netically, and  "chow"  also  started  on  its 
career  as  a  Spanish  word  for  food.    Lit- 


erally it  reads,  "Hail,  hail  they  are  here, 
the  Rotarians,  good  companions,  ready 
to  sample  the  chow."  The  boisterous 
chumminess  of  the  original  is  a  bit  too 
shocking  to  the  punctilious  Latin  Ameri- 
can ! 

This  club  is  rapidly  becoming  a  clear- 
ing house  for  Yankee  ideas  and  ideals. 
At  each  of  the  meetings  there  is  a  short 
talk,  followed  by  a  discussion,  the  sub- 
ject being  chosen  largely  according  to  cir- 
cumstances. If  there  is  any  prominent 
visitor  in  town — a  business  man,  rail- 
roader, admiral,  bishop  or  whatnot — the 
club  invites  him  to  lunch  and  talk  about 
his  specialty,  and  learns  something.  Left 
to  its  own  resources,  some  member  talks 
and  probably  reveals  wide  knowledge 
along  the  line  of  his  work,  or  hobbies, 
travel,  studies.  Some  of  the  first  sub- 
jects were  a  little  academic — the  history 
of  the  foundation  of  Montevideo,  the 
architecture  of  Montevideo  and  so  on. 
But  presently  the  club  was  discussing 
the  eight-hour  day,  social  conditions  in 
Uruguay,  better  houses  for  the  working 
classes,  commercial  education,  the  encour- 
agement of  bigger  wheat  crops  in  the  Ori- 
ental Republic,  and  subjects  of  like  char- 
acter. 

PRACTICAL  GOOD  TO  NATION 

pROBABLY  this  all  sounds  ordinary 
to  ourselves — the  sort  of  thing  we 
have  been  doing  for  years.  But  it  is 
starting  many  a  peaceful  revolution  in 
Uruguay.  As  the  direct  outcome  of  a 
discussion  on  welfare  work,  for  example, 
bonuses  for  efficiency  are  now  being  paid 
to  employes  on  one  of  the  Uruguayan 
railroads  and  suggestion  boxes  have  been 
put  all  along  the  line,  and  the  astounded 
engine  driver,  trackman  and  clerk  have 
discovered  that  the  company  not  only 
wants  practical  tips  for  improving  the 
service,  but  actually  pays  for  good  ones. 
Another  discussion  led  to  the  Montevi- 
deo Rotarians  investigating  the  city's 
street  arabs,  raising  a  fund  to  give  them 
a  "blowout"  and  look  after  them  on 
something  like  the  "big  brother"  plan — 
one  member,  simply  a  salary  earner,  put 
500  pesos  in  the  pot,  and  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  a  Uruguayan  peso  is 
worth  three  cents  more  than  our  dollar. 
The  little  republic  is,  in  fact,  where  we 
were  ourselves  a  generation  ago  in  the 


same  uplift,  but  through  this  clearing 
house  it  can  receive  our  ideas  and  adapt 
them  to  its  own  use. 

We  have  other  spiritual  exports  going 
to  Latin  America. 

Uruguay  means  to  increase  its  wheat 
crop,  and  is  interesting  farmers  with 
wheat  demonstration  trains,  moving  pic- 
tures, good  seed  wheat  and  other  methods 
familiar  to  us.  This  dates  back  to  an 
importation  of  Yankee  agricultural  ex- 
perts some  years  ago,  when  the  govern- 
ment brought  down  a  squad  of  the  best 
men  obtainable  in  the  United  States  and 
set  them  to  work.  There  were  farming 
and  livestock  specialists,  a  fishery  expert 
and  a  couple  of  dry-farming  men  who 
caused  considerable  amusement  because 
it  rained  almost  steadily  for  six  months 
after  they  arrived.  Some  of  their  spe- 
cialties were  a  little  too  advanced  for 
Uruguay's  development,  but  others  gave 
splendid  service. 

In  Brazil  wild  Indians,  taken  out  of 
the  woods  by  Colonel  Rondon,  are  sent 
to  school  to  learn  Portuguese,  the  three 
"r's"  and  a  trade,  and  most  of  them  go  to 
an  American  Baptist  institution,  chosen 
by  Colonel  Rondon  on  its  merit.  This 
institution  operates  a  large  printing  plant 
for  the  publication  of  textbooks,  and  is 
under  the  direction  of  a  gentleman  who 
is  probably  one  of  the  few  Jewish  Bap- 
tists in  captivity — Dr.  Solomon  L.  Gins- 
berg. Other  denominations  of  American 
churches  are  busy  all  over  the  southern 
continent  with  missionary  work  that  is 
about  one  part  theological  and  nine  parts 
education  and  trade  training.  During 
the  last  few  years  a  new  word,  "mitin," 
has  been  taken  into  the  Spanish-American 
vocabulary.  It  is  pronounced  "meeteen," 
and  is  simply  our  old  friend  "meeting," 
the  institution  being  as  new  as  the  word. 

Yesterday  if  you  got  four  bad  little 
Latin-American  boys  together,  lads  of 
twelve  to  eighteen  years,  they  would 
have  about  two  and  a  half  cheap  revolv- 
ers between  them  and  talk  chiefly  ob- 
scenity. Today  they  are  more  likely  to 
talk  sports  and  discuss  motorcars,  and 
gun-toting  is  not  nearly  so  popular  as  it 
was — a  practical  result  of  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
work  in  Latin-American  cities,  inau- 
gurated by  Yankees  and  still  largely  di- 
rected by  them,  with  the  heartiest  team- 
work from  forward-looking  Brazilians, 
Uruguayans,  Argentinos  and  so  on. 

Somd  of  our  best  exports  come  in 
human  packages. 

The  Latin  American  is  naturally  an 
idealist  and  puts  a  high  value  upon  serv- 
ice. 

Through  such  spiritual  exports  he  is 
getting  unsuspected  valufs  from  the 
northern  continent  and  finding  them  di- 
rectly applicable  in  his  everyday  life,  and 
it  is  becoming  harder  every  day  to  main- 
tain the  notion  that  Yankees  are  dollar 
chasers,  because  he  is  finding  out  where 
we  really  live. 


112 


URUGUAY  AND  PARAGUAY 


ARTICLE  LXVI 

CANNED  CORNED  BEEF 

A  NEGLECTED   WAR   BABY 

MONTEVIDEO,  Jan.  7.— Far  up 
the  river  in  Paraguay  there  is  an 
American  packing  house.  It  did  not 
exist  before  the  war,  because  it  was  built, 
like  many  others,  to  transform  the  half- 
wild  cattle  of  an  undeveloped  country 
into  the  soldier's  "iron  rations." 

Now  that  the  war  is  over,  some  Amer- 
ican advertising  men  may  soon  find  a  job 
in  London  introducing  iron  rations  into 
the  British  household  by  means  of  the 
printed  word.  Chicago,  Paraguay  and 
the  British  household  are  a  mutually 
dependent  triangle  in  the  matter — and  so 
things  go  in  world  trade. 

Iron  rations  were  chiefly  our  old 
friend  at  home — canned  corned  beef. 

Europe  knew  little  about  the  article 
before  the  war,  but  the  fighting  men 
quickly  learned  to 
like  it  and  ate  mil- 
lions of  cans,  and 
packing  houses 
were  built  in  many 
of  the  back  lots  of 
the  world  to  sup- 
ply it.  For  ex- 
ample, Florida  to- 
day has  a  growing 
livestock  industry 
and  a  big  packing 
house  in  Jackson- 
ville because  the 
little  worried  cattle 
that  roamed  her 
woods  and  sand 
wastes  were 
good  for  canning, 
though  little  else, 
and  the  packers 
took  them,  and  that 
started  a  livestock 
market    and 

Florida  lost  no  time  in  switching  over  to 
real  cattle,  and  hogs,  and  even  sheep. 

A  modern  packing  plant  needs  cattle, 
hogs  and  sheep  for  profitable  operation, 
to  make  sausage  and  other  specialties  of 
the  butcher  shop  and  work  up  the  by- 
products which  are  the  real  basis  of  the 
industry.  In  wild  cattle  countries  like 
Paraguay,  without  animals  fit  for  chilled 
beef  and  few  hogs  or  sheep,  a  packing 
plant  can  run  on  only  one  product — 
canned  corn  beef.  Keep  such  a  factory 
going  a  few  years,  providing  a  depend- 
able world  market  for  cattle,  and  the 
country  will  soon  develop  the  prime  beef, 
pork  and  mutton  for  a  real  packing  plant. 
But  if  household  demand  for  this  article 
is  not  created,  then  the-  canneries  out  in 
the  world's  back  lots  must  close  down 
and  development  stop  and  the  world's 
supply  shrink. 


CANNED  BEEF  IS  TOP  VALUE 

'"PHERE  is  only  one  other  resource — to 
make  "xarque."  This  is  the 
"jerked  beef"  of  the  Wild  West  story 
familiar  in  days  when  buffalo  roamed 
our  plains.  In  South  America  it  is  mildly 
pickled  and  dried  in  the  sun,  and  makes 
good  food  for  strong  stomachs.  Mil- 
lions of  pounds  of  it  are  eaten  in  South 
America  and  the  West  Indies,  but  it  is 
not  conceivable  that  any  amount  of  ad- 
vertising could  make  it  palatable  to  Eu- 
rope or  the  United  States,  and  the  xarque 
industry  does  not  encourage  improvement 
in  livestock  raising. 

Canned  corn  beef,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  a  delicacy,  and  comes  pretty  near  being 
the  best  value  that  one  can  buy  in  meat 
nowadays.  The  advertising  man  will 
find  it  full  of  copy  possibilities.  Buy  a 
piece  of  fresh  beef  in  the  butcher  shop 
and  you  get  about  15  per  cent  protein, 
and  pay  for  bone  and  sinew.     Buy  a  can 


SUGAR-CANE  FACTORY  NEAR  ASUNCION 

of  corned  beef  and  you  get  20  per  cent 
protein,  without  any  bone  or  sinew  at 
all.  When  the  butcher  cuts  up  a  carcass 
there  are  trimmings  that  go  into  the 
tankage  and  soap  vats.  But  in  a  corned 
beef  cannery  the  whole  animal  is  utilized 
except  bone  and  sinew.  The  latter  make 
up  25  per  cent,  so  that  a  "canner"  yields 
75  per  cent  good  food. 

Sixty  pounds  of  canned  beef  are  the 
equivalent  of  100  pounds  of  fresh  meat 
without  bone  or  sinew.  Cooking  is  done 
with  steam  under  pressure  of  five  to  seven 
pounds.  This  gives  a  temperature  of  230 
degrees  Fahrenheit,  so  that  the  toughest 
meat  is  made  tender  and  palatable.  No 
such  results  are  possible  with  the  kitchen 
stove,  no  matter  how  clever  the  cook,  for 
boiling  cannot  exceed  a  temperature  of 
212  degrees.  Factory  corned  beef  is  put 
into  the  cans  under  pressure,  so  that  it 
is  heaping  measure  for  the  money.  This 
is  done  to  exclude  all  air,  and  after  seal- 
ing the  cans  are  stored   six  weeks  and 


inspected,  so  that  every  tin  which  is  short 
in  the  slightest  degree  will  be  detected 
through  swelling  and  rejected.  Factory 
cooking  is  surgically  clean,  with  steam 
sterilization,  sealing  under  vacuum,  and 
such  refinements  as  clean  clothes  daily 
and  bathing  facilities,  and  even  manicur- 
ing for  the  workers  who  handle  the  prod- 
uct. 

A  full  pound  of  canned  corned  beef 
contains  so  much  meat  that  it  is  too  large 
for  the  average  family.  So  the  standard 
household  tin  contains  twelve  ounces. 
One  pound  of  fresh  beef  will  not  go  very 
far  in  feeding  the  average  family,  but  a 
twelve-ounce  can  of  corned  beef  made 
into  sandwiches  or  cooked  with  cabbage 
or  as  hash  will  make  a  full  meal  for  five 
people.  At  forty  cents  retail  the  Brit- 
ish household  cannot  buy  anything  like 
the  value  in  fresh  meat,  and  the  tinned 
article  virtually  eliminates  cooking  cost. 
That  is  the  advertising  story,  and  the 
ad  man's  part  in 
the  triangle  will  be 
to  put  it  strongly 
before  'Arry  and 
'Arriet  and  maybe 
Francois  and 
Giuseppe  and  the 
German  Michel. 
On  the  Continent 
people  have 
learned  the  econ- 
omy of  sausage 
through  ages  of 
frugal  living.  Can- 
ned corned  beef  is 
a  Yankee  variation 
of  sausage  and 
probably  calls  for 
missionary  work 
along  that  parallel. 
For  restaurants 
the  six-pound  can 
is  even  more  eco- 
nomical. 
South  American  corned  beef  also  has 
development  possibilities  in  the  United 
States,  for  it  is  of  superior  quality.  Lack- 
ing a  highly  specialized  market  for  all 
sorts  of  cuts  in  South  America,  the  pack- 
ers are  able  to  use  fatter  meat  for  this 
article  than  is  the  case  at  home,  even 
where  they  ship  chilled  beef  to  Europe. 
Argentina,  Brazil  and  Uruguay  have  big 
frigerificos,  but  it  is  usually  impossible 
to  buy  a  cold-storage  steak  or  roast  in 
those  countries,  because  the  entire  output 
goes  abroad  by  the  shipload  and  local 
butchers  have  only  freshly  killed  meat 
supplied  to  them  through  entirely  dif- 
ferent channels. 

MARKET  MUST  REMAIN 

DEING  a  war  baby,  South  America 
corned  beef  grew  up  overnight  into 
a  giant,  with  millions  of  customers  in 
khaki.  When  these  customers  demobi- 
lized there  arose  the  problem  of  reach- 
ing them  through  other  means.    The  ad- 


URUGUAY  AND  PARAGUAY 


113 


justment  emergency  came  upon  the  in- 
dustry so  quickly  that  some  of  the  can- 
neries have  been  forced  to  turn  to 
xarque,  especially  in  Paraguay,  where 
cattle  do  not  yield  chilled  beef,  as  there 
are  yet  no  facilities  for  bringing  it  down 
to  ocean  ports. 
Prosperous  Cuba 
offers  a  big  market 
for  "tasajo,"  as  the 
product  is  called 
there,  and  the 
packers  find  it 
profitable  to  make 
xarque  even  at  the 
seaboard.  But 
building  new  con- 
nections with  the 
European    demand 

and  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  sol- 
dier's      familiarity 

with   canned   meat 

to  introduce  it  into 

his  home  is  the  big 

way  of  solving  the 

problem. 

The    advertising 

of  this  product 

must  be  backed  by 

new     distribution 

machinery.      Fresh 

meat  is  sold  by  the 

butcher,  but  tinned 

meat  by  the  grocer. 

For  lack  of  vol- 
ume,    the     grocers 

abroad,   and   to  a 

large  extent  in  the 

United  States,  tax 

a    fancy    profit    on 

canned  corned  beef. 

When  he  is  per- 
suaded to  regard  it 

as  a  staple  instead 

of    a    specialty    he 

can     reduce     h  i  s 

margin,        increase 

his  turnover,  make 

more  money  and 

give   his  customers 

better    food    value. 

There  is  no  reason 

why  he  should  not 

sell    it    to    thrifty 

housewives   by   the 

dozen  cans  and  the 

case     when      the 

economy  and  qual- 
ity    of     this    food 

article   are  made 

clear  to  the  public. 

During  the  1918  epidemic  of  Spanish 
influenza  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  the  city  food 
supply  was  paralyzed  and  thousands  of 
families  faced  famine.  A  case  of  canned 
corned   beef  in   the   pantry  would  have 


carried  them  through  the  emergency 
comfortably.  A  food  reserve  would  be 
excellent   famine   insurance. 

Turning  this  awkward  war  baby  into 
a  useful  world  citizen  is  a  problem  of  pre- 
cisely the  kind  that  the  American  pack- 


MUNICIPAL   BUILDING    IN   ASUNCION 

ers  have  solved  at  home  again  and  again 
through  consumer  advertising,  improved 
distribution  and  the  building  up  of  vol- 
ume. What  they  have  done  at  home  can 
be  done  just  as  well  on  the  Chicago-Para- 
guay-British triangle. 


ARTICLE  LXVII 
URUGUAY'S  "BIG  MEN" 
RANK  AMONG  BIGGEST 

jyjONTEVIDEO,     Jan.     9.— When 
Mr.    Root   visited    Uruguay  some 

years  ago  he  spoke  of  Washington,  San 
Martin  and  Boli- 
var  as  the  libera- 
tors of  the  Amer- 
i  c  a  n  hemisphere. 
The  sensitive  Uru- 
guayans protested 
courteously  because 
their  liberator  was 
not  included — Ar- 
t  i  g  a  s,  Uruguay's 
Washington  and 
the  father  of  their 
country.  To  know 
something  about 
the  history  of  even 
a  little  country  like 
this  republic  is  as 
useful  in  doing  bus- 
iness with  it  as  to 
the  visiting  diplo- 
mat. 

When  Argentina 
began  to  fight  for 
freedom  from 
Spanish  rule  in  the 
early  part  of  the 
last  century,  Uru- 
guay took  fire  pa- 
triotically. Captain 
Don  Jose  Artigas 
(afterward  gener- 
al, born  in  Monte- 
video in  1764) 
was  an  influential 
officer  in  a  cavalry 
regiment  of  Uru- 
guayan rough  rid- 
ers in  the  Spanish 
service,  noted  for 
h  i  s  bravery.  Ac- 
cused of  plunder- 
ing by  the  Spanish 
governor,  Artigas 
raised  his  famous 
"Grito  de  Asen- 
cio,"  or  cry  of 
freedom,  led  his 
band  over  into  Bue- 
nos Aires  in  1811 
and,  gathering  Ar- 
gentines as  well  as 
Uruguayans,  re- 
turned and  laid 
siege  to  Monte- 
video, and  for  sev- 
eral years  fought 
Spaniards,  Brazil- 
ians and  even  Ar- 
gentines, though  at  times  the  latter  were 

his  allies.  He  was  a  "caudillo,"  a  cow- 
boy chief,  a  rough  leader  of  rough  men, 
whom  legend  has-  credited  with  a  pre- 
vious career  as  a  bandit  of  the   Robin 


114 


URUGUAY  AND  PARAGUAY 


Hood  order,  and  his  treatment  of  ene- 
mies anticipated   "frightfulness." 

One  barbarous  device,  the  "waistcoat," 
consisted  of  sewing  your  enemy  up  in  a 
fresh  bullock  hide  and  putting  him  out 
in  the  sun,  crushing  out  his  life  as  the 
hide  dries  and  contracts.  But  Artigas 
had  the  first  clear  vision  of  independence 
for  Uruguay  instead  of  as  a  province  of 
Argentina.  In  1813  he  virtually  declared 
independence  by  sending  Uruguayan  del- 
egates to  a  constituent  assembly  in  Bue- 
nos Aires,  instructing  them  to  that  effect 
— this  led  to  a  break  with  Argentina. 
He  adopted  the  title  of  "Protector  of 
Free  People,"  captured  Montevideo  in 
1814  with  the  aid  of  a  naval  force  from 
Argentina  under  the  Irish-Argentino 
Admiral  Brown,  cleared  the  city  of 
Spaniards  and  Argentinos  only  to  be  de- 
feated some  years  later  by  the  Brazil- 
ians, who,  in  secret  league  with  the  Ar- 
gentinos, who  feared  Uruguay  as  a 
neighbor,  swept  down  and  occupied  the 
whole  country,  Montevideo  included. 
Discouraged,  he  sought  an  asylum  in 
Paraguay  under  the  Dictator  Francia 
and  died  there  in  1850. 

WON  INDEPENDENCE  TWICE 

THE  next  episode  in  Uruguay's  his- 
tory was  that  of  the  famous  "Tre- 
tinany  Tres"  or  "thirty-three."  In  1825 
word  came  to  Buenos  Aires  that  the  last 
vestiges  of  Spanish  power  had  been 
broken  in  Peru,  and  the  Argentinos  nat- 
urally held  a  big  celebration.  This  was 
so  sorrowful  an  occasion  for  the  Uru- 
guayans in  Buenos  Aires,  reminded  of 
their  own  domination  by  the  Brazilian 
Empire,  that  a  band  of  thirty-three,  led 
by  Colonel  Juan  Antonio  Lavalleja, 
started  for  Uruguay  with  a  tricolored 
flag  bearing  the  motto,  "Liberty  or 
Death."  Picking  up  another  handful  of 
patriots,  they  took  a  small  town.  Gen- 
eral Fructuoso  Rivera,  one  of  Artigas's 
old  lieutenants,  being  then  in  command 
of  the  Uruguayan  army  under  the  Bra- 
zilians, was  sent  against  the  invaders,  but 
promptly  joined  them.  Whereupon  all 
Uruguay  arose,  an  independent  govern- 
ment was  established,  and  three  years  of 
fighting  followed.  Admiral  Brown  came 
back  and  defeated  the  Brazilian  fleet,  for 
the  Argentine  Government  became  in- 
volved. Finally  the  Brazilians  were  de- 
feated in  the  chief  battle  of  this  war  on 
the  plains  of  Ituzaingo  and  in  1 828  both 
Brazil  and  Argentina  acknowledged 
Uruguay's  independence. 


So  the  little  country  was  compelled  to 
win  its  freedom  twice,  and  Artigas  and 
the  Thirty-three  are  the  great  figures  in 
its  history — the  day  of  the  Tretinany 
Tres  is  one  of  Uruguay's  national  holi- 
days. 

Independence  did  not  bring  peace. 
General  Lavalleja  had  expected  to  be- 
come president,  but  when  General  Ri- 
vera was  elected  instead  Lavalleja  led 
a  revolt,  but  was  defeated  and  driven 
into  Brazil.  Then  General  Manuel 
Oribe,  one  of  the  Thirty-three,  was 
elected  president,  combined  with  Laval- 
leja against  Rivera,  and  strife  was  con- 
tinuous until  the  seventies,  with  spo- 
radic revolutions  as  late  as  1904.  The 
two  original  factions  of  Rivera  and  the 
Lavalleja-Oribe  combination  had  crys- 
tallized into  two  parties,  the  Colorados 
and  Blancos,  or  Reds  and  Whites,  and 
fighting  often  persisted  without  clear  is- 
sues. One  of  the  bloodiest  conflicts, 
known  as  the  "Great  War,"  from  1843 
to  1851,  was  continued  chiefly  because 
neither  side  would  quit,  and  peace  was 
finally  made  with  a  phrase,  "No  hay 
vencidos  y  no  hay  vencedores" — there  are 
no  victors  and  no  vanquished.  Even  to- 
day the  Uruguayan  is  not  merely  a  Col- 
orado or  Nacionalista  (the  present  title 
of  the  Blancos),  but  is  born  that  way, 
and  political  feeling  is  so  deep  that  stran- 
gers innocently  wearing  a  red  necktie 
into  Blanco  territory  have  been  viewed 
with  suspicion.  In  the  political  wars 
prisoners  were  seldom  taken — the  best 
sort  of  political  opponent  being  regarded 
as  a  dead  one. 

PROGRESS  DESPITE  STRIFE 

THERE  are  some  other  great  names 
in  Uruguay's  history,  of  which  two 
may  be  mentioned.  One  is  Garibaldi, 
afterward  the  Italian  patriot,  who  lived 
in  Montevideo  and  commanded  an  Uru- 
guayan squadron  in  1842,  when  the  Ar- 
gentine dictator  Rosas  was  being  over- 
thrown. But  the  other  never  visited 
Uruguay,  yet  contributed  more  to  her 
welfare  than  many  of  her  own  sons.  He 
was  von  Liebig,  the  German  chemist, 
who  invented  extract  of  beef  and  thus 
first  provided  an  export  market  for  Uru- 
guay's cattle.  In  1861  a  small  experi- 
mental plant  was  set  up  in  Uruguay, 
samples  made  and  approved  by  Liebig. 
Then  the  revolutionary  curve  began  to 
fall  during  the  next  ten  years,  as  the  meat 
extract   production    curve   steadily   rose 


from  a  few  hundred  animals  yearly  to 
more  than  100,000.  By  the  seventies 
cattle  raisers  were  getting  $2,000,000 
a  year  out  of  this  industry,  employes 
$200,000  in  wages  and  the  government 
$100,000  export  duties.  Taking  an  en- 
gineering view  of  history  those  two  curves 
plotted  side  by  side  would  be  most  sig- 
nificant. 

It  is  often  thought  paradoxical  that 
Uruguay  should  have  gone  ahead  so 
steadily  in  material  things  while  torn  by 
internal  strife.  But  both  the  country  and 
the  people  have  been  solid  at  bottom. 
Foreign  capital  has  been  safe,  and  the 
wool  and  chilled  meat  industries  have 
added  to  prosperity.  Fighting  was  the 
chief  outdoor  sport  in  days  before  Monte- 
video became  an  export  gateway  to  the 
world,  but  with  cattle  bringing  eight 
cents  a  pound  on  the  hoof,  sheep  ten 
cents,  wool  fifty  cents  and  hides  seven 
cents,  politics  nowadays  is  fought  out 
in  newspaper  editorials  and  at  the  polls. 

One  of  Uruguay's  biggest  men  is  still 
alive  and  decidedly  active — Senor  Jose 
Battle  y  Ordonez,  twice  president  of  the 
republic  and  a  strong  leader  in  its  affairs 
since  the  eighties.  Battle  is  a  "caudillo," 
a  soldier,  an  editor,  an  administrator,  a 
political  boss,  and  at  times  has  been  vir- 
tually a  dictator.  Now  sixty-three  years 
old,  he  first  took  a  hand  in  Uruguay 
politics  as  an  editor  in  1881,  opposing 
President  Santos,  organized  a  revolution 
against  him,  was  defeated,  and  then 
started  a  daily  paper  of  his  own,  El  Dia, 
which  is  still  his  personal  organ.  Then 
he  became  governor  of  a  department,  or- 
ganized the  Colorado  party  so  success- 
fully that  the  opposition  has  never  elected 
a  president  in  his  time,  and  in  1903  was 
elected  president,  an  office  his  father  had 
held  before  him.  Uruguay's  presidents 
can  only  hold  office  for  two  terms,  and 
those  not  consecutively.  Battle  was 
elected  again  in  1911,  and  between  his 
terms,  as  well  as  subsequently,  and  even 
before  he  rose  to  the  executive  power,  was 
credited  with  practically  naming  other 
presidents,  controlling  Congress,  which 
elects  the  chief  magistrate.  He  fought  the 
Blancos  in  the  revolution  of  1904  and 
defeated  them,  but  while  his  rule  has 
been  unwavering,  and  his  will  of  iron, 
the  country  has  prospered  under  him  and 
he  has  been  the  father  of  much  wise  leg- 
islation-— the  eight-hour  law,  divorce  law, 
disestablishment  of  the  church,  reform 
of  the  constitution,  and  the  building  up 
of  industries  and  education. 


Chile 


''Made  in  Philadelphia"  in  Far  Away  Santiago 


ARTICLE  LXVIII 

FOURTH  CAPITAL  CITY 
HAS  NO  U.  S.  CONSUL 

CANTIAGO,  Chile,  Jan.  11.— Of  all 
people  in  South  America,  the  Chil- 
eans are  supposed  to  like  Yankees  least. 
There  was  an  occasion,  a  generation  ago, 
when  Uncle  Sam  gave  Chile  a  diplo- 
matic spanking,  a  matter  of  indemnity  for 
some  American  sailors  who  got  killed 
trying  to  kill  some  Chilean  sailors.  We 
have  forgotten,  but  not  the  Chilenos. 
There  is  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  some 
American  concerns  have  dealt  with  Chi- 
leons  on  slap-dash  lines,  and  other  irri- 
tations have  occurred  from  time  to  time. 


We  rather  return  the  compliments, 
however. 

Americans  who  claim  to  know  Chile 
will  warn  you  in  advance  that  it  is  anti- 
American  and  pro-German;  that  it  is 
a  country  of  thieves  and  drunkards,  and 
so  on.  Travelers'  gossip  about  any  coun- 
try is  subject  to  heavy  discount,  but  of 
no  country  in  South  America  is  there 
so  much  travelers'  gossip  as  about  Chile, 
and  the  Yankee  is  more  than  likely  to 
cross  the  border  with  prejudice,  if  not 
apprehension. 

If  he  crosses  by  railroad  from  Argen- 
tina these  days  the  supposed  pro-Ger- 
man character  of  Chile  will  impress  him 
first  of  all,  for  the  train  from  Buenos 


Aires  will  be  filled  largely  with  Germans. 
They  speak  German  and  look  very  Ger- 
man and  hustle  for  seats  on  the  crowded 
narrow-gauge  train  when  cars  are 
changed  at  Mendoza  and  pile  their  lug- 
gage where  you  want  to  put  yours  and 
are  straight  from  the  fatherland,  via 
Holland. 

"They're  traveling  again,"  whispers 
the  Britisher,  nudging  the  Yankee,  and 
the  Briton  and  the  Yank  are  instinctively 
drawn  closer  to  each  other. 

But  presently  the  Yankee,  listening  to 
these  passengers  from  the  Fatherland, 
discovers  that  their  German  is  not  the 
language  of  Germany  at  all,  but  much 
like  the  German  one  hears  in  Milwau- 


116 


CHILE 


kec  or  Cincinnati,  with  some  honest 
Pennsylvania  Dutch  expressions.  They 
drop  into  Spanish,  too,  from  time  to  time, 
and  look  like  our  German  Americans, 
and  one  discovers  presently  that  most  of 
them  are  Chileno-Germans  who  were 
caught  in  Europe  by  the  war,  and  are 
returning  to  Chile,  where  they  were 
born. 

CHILENOS  LOOK  TO  U.  S. 

ARRIVING  in  Santiago,  one  finds 
German  influence  strong.  There 
are  German  names,  German  faces,  Ger- 
man business  houses  and  banks,  and  the 
German  language  is  often  spoken.  But 
census  figures  give  only  10,000  real  Ger- 
mans in  Chile's  population  of  5,000,000, 
and  of  the  30,000  "Deutschers"  in  the 
two  southern  provinces  where  they  are 
strongest,  more  than  two-thirds  were 
born  in  Chile.  As  in  the  United  States, 
the  Kaiser  counted  heavily  on  his  as- 
sumed colony  in  Chile,  and  tried  to  kick 
up  a  rumpus  through  propaganda,  but 
unsuccessfully,  because  many  of  the  orig- 
inal Germans  in  Chile  were  the  liberty- 
loving  revolutionists  of  1848.  German 
officers  have  trained  the  Chilean  army, 
which,  like  that  of  Argentina,  still  wears 
uniforms  suggesting  the  Prussians.  Ger- 
man professors  have  taught  in  the  Chil- 
ean universities.  But  the  Chileans  pro- 
test that  these  instructors  simply  filled 
contracts  and  imparted  no  influence,  and 
that  their  country,  which  officially  went 
great  lengths  to  preserve  neutrality  dur- 
ing the  war,  was  popularly  pro-Ally,  and 
especially  pro-French,  and  that  today 
Chile  looks  chiefly  to  France,  England 
and  the  United  States  for  its  technical 
standards  and  its  business. 

Once  in  actual  contact  with  the  Chi- 
leno  in  his  own  country,  an  American  is 
bound  to  begin  liking  him.  First  of  all, 
there  is  "pep"  in  the  climate,  as  con- 
trasted with  the  feeling  of  "no  impor- 
tancia"  in  the  east  coast  air.  The  Chi- 
leno  is  a  big  chap  physically,  living  in 
a  long  sliver  of  a  country  with  so  many 
geographical  handicaps  to  be  overcome 
that  he  has  had  to  work  like  a  Scotch- 
man, and  is  in  some  respects  the  "Sawn- 
die"  of  Latin  America.  In  some  of  the 
other  southern  countries  the  young  men 
use  as  much  face  powder  and  perfume  as 
the  girls,  but  not  the  Chileno!  He  is 
not  afraid  to  get  his  hands  dirty.  His 
long  coast  line  has  made  him  a  sailor, 
and  long  years  of  battle,  during  which  he 
wrested  his  country  from  the  Araucanian 
Indians,  made  him  a  soldier.  When  the 
Yankee  newly  arrived  from  the  east 
coast  steps  out  of  the  way  of  an  automo- 
bile driven  by  a  bareheaded  Chilean  girl, 
he  realizes  with  astonishment  that  he 
has  reached  a  different  kind  of  Latin- 
American  country — many  of  the  girls 
drive  their  own  cars  in  Santiago,  and 
the  boys  drive  Fords  fitted  up  with  sport 
bodies,  where  some  of  the  other  Latin- 
American   youth   would   fit   them  with 


brass  gewgaws  and  chauffeurs.  The 
Chileno  unquestionably  leads  all  the 
other  Latin  Americans  in  sports,  playing 
the  old  Araucanian  game  of  "chueca," 
an  Indian  hockey,  with  football,  swim- 
ming, shooting,  riding,  fox  hunting,  polo, 
skiing  and  winter  sports,  motoring,  avia- 
tion, fencing  and  even  boxing. 

UNPLEASANTNESS  FADING 

TF  THERE  is  any  dislike  of  Americans, 

it  must  be  far  under  the  surface. 

The  Chileno  frankly  reminds  us  that 
on  several  occasions  in  the  past  we  have 
hurt  his  national  pride.  The  "Balti- 
more affair"  between  Yankee  gobs  and 
Chileno  sailors  was  one,  and  our  atti- 
tude during  the  war  between  Chile  and 
Peru  and  Bolivia,  together  with  Chile's 
only  revolution  in  1891,  were  others. 
The  Monroe  Doctrine  has  worried  him 
because  he  doesn't  care  to  be  patronized 
by  a  bigger  country  and  feels  capable 
of  fighting  his  own  battles,  and,  more- 
over, he  has  never  been  quite  certain 
what  this  venerable  doctrine  really  means 
- — if  we  know  ourselves.  But  a  new  day 
began  in  1914,  with  the  ABC  confer- 
ence over  Mexico's  troubles.  Then  came 
the  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal,  giv- 
ing Chile  shorter  routes  to  the  markets  of 
the  United  States  and  Europe.  The  war 
further  clarified  our  attitude,  and  the 
visit  of  Colonel  Roosevelt,  the  utterances 
of  President  Wilson  and  the  steps  we 
took  during  the  war  to  give  Chileans 
frank  information  about  ourselves  have 
brought  about  better  acquaintance  and 
new  understanding. 

Despite  the  fact  that  Chilenos  in  the 
country  districts  are  good  customers  of 
the  dramshop,  our  last  drinking  records 
outdistanced  them. 

One  charge  of  the  gossiping  traveler 
has  a  good  foundation — that  theft  is  very 
common  in  Chile.  The  unwary  citizen's 
bank  roll  is  taken  from  his  hip  pocket  by 
light-fingered  gentry,  automobile  tires 
and  accessories  disappear  as  if  by  magic, 
baggage  is  stolen  unless  carefully  watched, 
or  sometimes  broken  open  in  transit,  and 
professional  criminals  ply  their  trades 
with  a  diligence  and  skill  that  suggests — 
some  of  our  own  cities! 

ANTI-THIEVING  EDUCATION 

13  UT  it  is  the  amateur  thief  who  gives 
the  most  trouble — the  pilferer  of  tri- 
fles in  shops,  factories  and  streets.  At  a 
big  railroad  works  under  construction 
outside  of  Santiago  guards  had  to  be 
posted  near  electrical  machinery,  from 
which  every  detachable  piece  of  brass, 
such   as  nuts  and   washers,   was  stolen. 


Ordinary  nails  disappeared  by  the  kegs, 
but  mysteriously,  until  it  was  found  that 
workmen  were  carrying  them  away  a 
few  ounces  at  a  time,  and  finally  accu- 
mulated a  thousand  pounds,  which  they 
pooled  for  sale.  The  raggedest  laborer's 
coat  disappears  if  left  out  of  sight  for  a 
moment,  and  nothing  seems  too  small  to 
be  picked  up  if  it  will  sell  for  a  few 
centavos. 

Two  explanations  are  given,  and  two 
remedies. 

The  Chilean  authorities  find  a  close 
connection  between  theft  and  illiteracy, 
and  plan  to  improve  the  morals  of  their 
people  by  education. 

American  engineers  who  have  worked 
with  Chilenos  on  construction  jobs  and 
in  the  mines  and  nitrate  fields  connect 
theft  with  the  pitifully  low  wages  which 
are  still  standard  in  the  country.  When 
a  strong  man,  capable  of  walking  with 
two  hundred-pound  loads  on  his  shoul- 
ders, is  paid  only  sixty  to  eighty  cents  a 
day,  old  brass  and  old  rags  or  almost 
anything  that  has  value  is  picked  up, 
and  the  very  fact  that  it  can  be  picked 
up,  the  Americans  say,  is  ample  justifi- 
cation for  doing  so.  Their  way  of  re- 
ducing theft  has  been  to  raise  wages. 

Santiago  is  the  fourth  largest  city  in 
South  America,  with  a  population  ap- 
proaching half  a  million.  Part  of  the 
prosperous  west  coast  colonies  of  Spain 
in  days  when  Argentina  was  poor,  it  re- 
ceived more  Spaniards,  and  these  of  the 
official  classes,  and  this  closer  contact  is 
still  in  evidence  in  the  good  Spanish 
spoken  by  the  people.  It  has,  among 
other  institutions  popularly  supposed  to 
have  come  out  of  the  great  war,  the  "con- 
ductorette,"  or  woman  "cobrador,"  on 
its  street  cars.  They  date  from  the  war 
with  Peru  and  Bolivia,  in  1879,  when 
the\-  took  the  places  of  men  going  to  the 
front.  Many  of  them,  old  enough  to  be 
grandmothers,  are  perhaps  the  original 
conductorettes  who  stepped  in  to  aid  their 
country  forty  years  ago,  and  are  collect- 
ing fares  on  the  same  cars.  Philadelphia 
street  car  salesmen  ought  to  investigate 
Santiago ! 

CITY  NEEDS  CONSULAR  OFFICE 

AT  FIVE  minutes  to  twelve  every  busi- 
ness day  Santiago's  downtown 
streets  are  thronged.  But  within  five 
minutes  after  the  noonday  gun  booms 
out  on  the  Cerro  Santa  Lucia  shop  shut- 
ters are  down,  and  the  streets  look  like 
lower  Broadway  on  Sunday — everybody 
goes  home  to  lunch,  returning  about  two. 
Santiago  is  not  an  all-night  town,  like 
Buenos  Aires,  and  has  few  hotels  and 
restaurants.  But  it  is  ambitiously  build- 
ing the  first  real  Yankee  skyscraper  in 
South  America,  an  office  building  of  four- 
teen stories,  and  wants  a  Yankee  hotel. 
Its  American  colony  is  rapidly  growing, 
and  its  people  speak  English  to  a  far 
greater  extent  than  those  of  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro or  Buenos  Aires. 


CHILE 


117 


If  Santiago  is  a  fair  sample  of  Chile, 
then  the  Chilenos  have  many  things  in 
common  with  us,  and  future  acquaint- 
ance should  make  impossible  the  misun- 
derstandings and  slights  of  the  past. 

But  one  practical  step  toward  getting 
better  acquainted  should  be  taken  by 
Uncle  Sam,  and  immediately — that  of 
sending  a  United  States  consul  to  San- 
tiago for  convenience  in  doing  business. 

For,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  fourth 
largest   city   in    South   America   has   no 
American  consul,  though  it  is  the  capi- 
tal of  a  country  that  sells  us  half  its  ex- 
ports    and    buys 
from    us    42    per 
cent  of  its  imports. 
It    is    the    official 
post  of  our  ambas- 
sador to  Chile,  but     ■'  *  ,imM-r- 
the    United    States 
consul     general     is 
stationed    at    Val- 
paraiso,   the    chief 
seaport.     As  this  is 
four  hours  away  by 
express  trains,  it  is 
equivalent  to  going 
from  New  York  to 
either     Boston     or 
Washington      for 
the  fiscalization  of 
papers    and    other 
important  details. 


So  while  the  branches  and  direct  agen- 
cies for  American  concerns  are  many  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Buenos  Aires,  and 
their  American  colonies  large,  most  of 
our  business  on  the  west  coast  is  handled 
by  big  importing  concerns,  and  it  is  es- 
timated that  the  number  of  Americans 
engaged  in  commercial  business  in  San- 
tiago and  Valparaiso  exceeds  one  hun- 
dred, but  probably  does  not  number  200. 

The  largest  and  most  representative 
American  house  in  Chile  is  that  of  W.  R. 
Grace  &  Co.  This  organization  handles 
American  merchandise  as  well  as  Euro- 


ART.  LXIX 

CHILE 

NEEDS 

YANKEES 

SANTIAGO, 

Chile,  Jan.  13.  j 
— When  it  comes 
to  selling  more  of 
our  goods  to  Chile 
and  the  west  coast 
generally,  two 
things  seem  to  be 
needed  first  of  all, 
according  to  men 
familiar  with  that 
side  of  South 
America : 

First.  More  rep- 
resentative Ameri- 
can business  men 
and  salesmen  living 

in    those    countries    familiar    with     the 
people  and  their  ways. 

Second.  Better  grades  of  American 
goods  to  offset  heavy  bulk  stuff  which 
puts  us  at  a  disadvantage  in  ocean 
freights. 

East  and  west  coast  business  differs 
radically.  The  east  coast  countries  have 
the  volume  and  the  population.  The  im- 
ports of  either  Argentina  or  Brazil  ag- 
gregate more  than  those  of  Chile,  Peru 
and  Bolivia  combined,  and  the  total  pop- 
ulation of  these  last-named  countries  is 
less  than  half  that  of  Brazil. 


SANTIAGO,    CHILE'S    CAPITAL,    FROM    CAUPOLITAN    HILL,    ON   WHICH    THE    CITY 
ORIGINALLY  WAS   FOUNDED 


pean  lines,  exports  the  raw  products  of 
Chile  and  other  countries,  does  a  bank- 
ing business,  runs  its  own  freight  and 
passenger  ships  to  the  United  States  and 
carries  on  a  business  that  is  diversified 
and  world-wide.  It  is  the  flexible  gen- 
eral store  system  adapted  to  the  needs  of 
the  smaller,  less  developed  countries,  car- 
ried to  world  scale  magnitude,  ready  to 
buy,  sell,  lend,  ship  or  do  anything  else 
which  may  be  needed  under  the  widest 
range  of  circumstances.  In  one  depart- 
ment typewriters  and  adding  machines 
are  handled,  in  another  coal  by  the  ship- 


load, in  another  Spanish  chick  peas  are 
bought,  and  for  other  lines,  such  as  the 
export  of  nitrates  or  the  sale  of  railroad 
equipment,  there  may  be  separate  cor- 
porations. 

U.  S.  TRAINED  MEN 

JN  COUNTRIES  too  small  for  direct 
representation,  the  American  manu- 
facturer is  often  given  the  next  best  thing 
for  such  an  organization.  A  specific  in- 
stance is  the  Chilean  International  Ma- 
chinery Co.,  one  of  the  Grace  subsidi- 
aries. Originally  there  was  a  depart- 
ment for  handling 
American  electri- 
cal apparatus,  rail- 
r  o  a  d  equipment, 
machine  tools, 
mining  machinery 
and  heavy  stuff 
generally.  Half  a 
dozen  technical 
men  in  that  de- 
partment were  set 
up  independently, 
with  a  new  cor- 
poration, and  told 
to  make  the  busi- 
ness s  e  1  f-support- 
ing.  In  seven  years 
they  have  increased 
the  staff  to  100, 
have  much  of  the 
business  in  Chile 
and  Bolivia,  and 
are  reaching  out  to 
Brazil  and  Argen- 
tina. 

This  concern 
was  started  origi- 
nally in  Peru  by 
William  R.  Grace, 
in  the  fifties.  Mr. 
Grace  was  an 
Englishman,  but 
began  handling 
American  goods, 
became  a  citizen 
H  of  the  United 
States,  and  was. 
||  active  in  looking 
£  after  Uncle  Sam's 
naval  interests 
during  the  Civil 
War.  It  has  since 
grown  strong  on  the  west  coast,  with 
twenty  branches  in  Chile,  twenty-five  in 
Peru,  ten  in  Bolivia  and  twenty-five  in 
Central  America  and  the  West  Indies. 
Recently  it  has  been  extended  to  the  east 
coast  and  the  Orient. 

The  Yankee  from  home  is  somewhat 
astonished  when  he  discovers  that  the 
management,  in  Chile  at  least,  is  chiefly 
in  the  hands  of  Britishers.  That  is,  they 
speak  with  a  British  accent  and  the 
downrightness  of  the  Scot  and  North 
Countryman.  But  usually  they  have 
been  in  South  America  the  greater  part 


118 


CHILE 


of  their  lives,  having  "come  out"  as 
striplings  and  settled  down  to  serve  their 
working  lives  in  the  solid,  contented 
British  way.  Some  of  them  have  been 
born  in  the  countries  where  they  live. 
Many  of  the  employes,  salesmen  and  de- 
partment heads  are  natives  of  the  coun- 
try where  business  is  done,  and  there  is 
a  definite  increase  in  the  numbers  of 
that  highly  useful  chap,  the  Latin  Ameri- 
can with  experience  in  the  United 
States. 

"We  are  greatly  handicapped  by  lack 
of  Americans  who  know  merchandising 
or  are  willing  to  come  to  these  countries 
and  learn  it,"  said  one  of  the  Grace  man- 
agers in  explana- 
tion of  this  state  of 
affairs.  "U  p  to 
1916  there  were  so 
many  opportunities 
for  young  men  in 
the  United  States, 
and  world  trade 
had  made  so  little 
impression  upon 
American  imagina- 
tion, that  we  got 
virtually  no  Amer- 
icans of  the  right 
class.  Things  are 
a  little  better  now, 
yet  it  seems  as 
though  the  first- 
rate  Yankee 
hardly  begins  to 
develop  down  here 
before  he  is  drafted 
by  our  home  or- 
ganization in  the 
United  States. 

"The  salesman 
o  r  merchandise 
man  in  the  United 
States  meets  the 
competition  chiefly 
of  other  American 
concerns,  but  in  a 
country  like  Chile 
he  must  learn  to 
compete  with  the 
world,  and  that  in- 
volves a  much 
wider  knowledge 
of  goods,  prices 

and  special  preferences.  In  the  United 
States  he  may  be  concentrating  on  a 
single  line,  whereas  here  he  may  have  to 
know  and  handle  many  lines.  It  might 
be  necessary  for  him  to  spend  a  year 
studying  technicalities  in  a  subordinate 
position  before  he  can  be  sent  out  to  deal 
with  customers  at  all." 

OCEAN  RATES  TOO  HIGH 

A  NOTHER  handicap  in  the  expansion 
of  American  merchandise  sales  on 
the  west  coast  is  the  higher  ocean  freights 
on  our  shipments  as  compared  with  those 
of  Europe,  a  situation  which,  once  gen- 
erally understood  in  the  United  States, 


can  probably  be  corrected,  though  slowly, 
by  teamwork  among  manufacturers, 
exporters,  salesmen  and  representatives 
in  the  Latin-American  countries. 

Ocean  freight  rates,  like  those  on  the 
railroad,  are  made  according  to  the  value 
and  bulk  of  the  merchandise.  Great  Brit- 
ain and  Europe  normally  ship  a  large 
percentage  of  fine  products,  such  as  silk 
goods,  laces,  watches,  jewelry,  wines, 
liquors,  cutlery,  pharmaceuticals,  fancy 
food  products,  bric-a-brac,  the  "article 
de  Paris"  and  so  on.  On  such  shipments 
first-class  freight  rates  are  changed ;  and, 
as  they  pay  twice  as  much  per  ton  as  the 
heavier  bulk  freights  carried  under  sec- 


ENTRANCE 


SUPREME    COURT    BUILDING  IX    SANTIAGO,    GIVINC, 
ARCHITECTURAL    ELEGANCE    OF    CHILEAN    BUILD  I 


ond-class  and  third-class  rates,  a  thousand 
tons  of  such  merchandise  goes  far  toward 
paying  the  expenses  of  the  voyage  and 
makes  possible  a  corresponding  reduction 
of  rates  on  heavier  freight. 

Our  business  with  Latin  America  thus 
far  has  been  chiefly  in  machinery,  steel, 
foodstuffs,  lumber,  coal  and  other  bulk 
commodities.  It  averages  nearer  third 
class  than  second.  For  example,  in  the 
last  year  of  normal  trade  before  the  war 
our  biggest  sale  to  Chile  was  fuel  oil, 
paint  and  varnish,  measured  in  pesos,  and 
after  that  came  mineral  products,  ma- 
chinery and  foodstuffs.  But  the  biggest 
item  of  Chile's  import  purchases  was  tex- 


tiles, many  of  them  silks,  laces  and  fine 
garments.  We  sold  her  only  800,000 
pesos'  worth  of  textiles,  while  England 
sold  12,000,000  pesos,  Germany  7,000,- 
000  pesos,  France  2,000,000— even  little 
Belgium  beat  us  on  the  fine  stuff! 

We   need   more  first-class  freight  on 
our  ships  to  even  things  up. 

We  have  succeeded  in  selling  our  best 
products  to  the  Latin  American  in  his 
business,  equipping  him  with  adding  ma- 
chines, typewriters,  cash  registers,  com- 
puting scales,  card-index  systems.  But 
we  haven't  yet  reached  his  womenkind  at 
home,  although  they  are  the  most  liberal 
purchasers  of  fine  raiment  and  house  fit- 
tings in  the  world 
and  have  a  definite 
liking  for  our 
pretty  things, 
which  they  keep 
track  of  in  our 
fashion  and  home- 
making  magazines 
and  in  our  movies. 
We  haven't  reach- 
ed the  Latin-Amer- 
ican man  with  the 
American  idea  in 
clothes,  either, 
though  he  is  begin- 
n  i  n  g  to  admire 
American  snap  and 
color. 

The    sort    of 
products  that  make 
first-class    ocean 
freight    are    much 
the   same   as   those 
that  comprise  one- 
third    of    our    ex- 
press shipments  at 
home  —  fine    mer- 
chandise  of    every 
sort    being    rushed 
in  small  lots  to  re- 
tailers to  replenish 
exhausted    stock 
and  give  maximum 
turnover    of    the 
merchant's  capital. 
It    is    the    sort    of 
stuff    that    calls 
for   close    adaptation    to   the   customer's 
individual     taste,     and     for     salesman- 
ship,    and     service,     and     consumer-ad- 
vertising.    It  cannot  be  landed  in  world 
markets   by   the   shipload,    even    by    the 
nations  that  are  older  in   world   trade. 
Some  of  it  we  cannot  make  at  all — the 
laces  and  lingerie  of  Europe's  cottage  in- 
dustries,   for   instance.       But   we   make 
many    articles    that    can    be    introduced 
abroad  and  gradually  built  up  to  volume 
if    we   will    only    look    upon    Santiago, 
Chile,  as  we  do  Kansas  City,  and  make 
the  effort  and  spend  the  money  for  de- 
velopment of  markets. 


GENERAL    IDEA 
NGS 


CHILE 


119 


ARTICLE  LXX 

PANAMA  CANAL  OPENS 
WAY  TO  CHILE  TRADE 

CANTIAGO,  Chile,  Jan.  15.— To  us 
the   Panama  canal   is  chiefly  a  big 
ditch  and  we  are  not  quite  certain  yet 
what  it  is  going  to  do  for  us. 

But  to  the  Chileans  it  is  also  a  big  idea 
and  a  national  inspiration.  They  have 
been  dreaming  and  planning,  charting 
and  getting  ready,  ever  since  we  started 
to  make  the  dirt  fly.  Likewise  they  have 
taken  a  fresh  inventory  of  us  Yankees 
and  written  off  a  good  many  false  no- 
tions about  us,  and  there  is  a  new  under- 
standing, ripening  into  friendship,  which 
has  been  brought  about  by  the  canal  more 
than  by  any  other  single  factor. 

Without  the  canal  Chile  was  the  sec- 
ond farthest  coun- 
try in  South  Amer- 
ica, except  one, 
after  you  turned 
the  windy  Cape 
Horn  corner. 

With  the  canal 
she  is  closer  to 
New  York  than 
most  of  the  east 
coast  ports,  and 
her  northern  ports 
are  nearer  Europe. 

So  she  is  getting 
ready  to  cash  in  on 
our  big  ditch  in  a 
half  dozen  d  i  f- 
ferent  ways  — 
port  improvements, 
more  railroads, 
more  merchant 
ships,  increased 
manufacturing  and 
farming.  For 
every  dollar  that 
we  invested  in  the 
canal  Chile  can 
put  a  peso  to  work 
and  make  profit. 
She  will  come  to  corner  op  agrici: 
us  for  some  of  the 

pesos,  and  for  equipment,  and  also  for 
technical  men  and  aid  in  marketing  her. 
increased  output  of  soil  products,  minerals 
and  perhaps  even  manufactures  of  cer- 
tain kind. 

There  are  many  places  in  Chile  where 
Americans  can  take  hold  with  capital, 
helping  in  the  development  of  the  raw  re- 
sources of  the  country. 

POSSIBILITIES  VARIED 

TT  IS  really  several  countries  in  one, 
each  with  different  possibilities. 
Nearly  3000  miles  long  and  averaging 
only  a  little  more  than  100  miles  wide, 
the  geography  books  divide  it  into  three 
zones — the  northern  desert  with  its  ni- 
trates, the  central  portion  with  its  cat- 
tle and  farming  lands  and  the  chief  cities, 
and  the  south,  where  there  are  great  for- 


ests and  boundless  sheep  ranges.  But 
the  Andes  on  the  east  are  another  zone, 
rich  in  minerals  and  in  many  places 
hardly  prospected,  while  the  thousands 
of  miles  of  coast  furnish  the  basis  for  a 
great  fishing  industry,  and  have  also  coal, 
and  probably  oil.  One  of  the  romances 
of  Chile  was  the  development  of  coal 
mining  in  Lota  through  the  faith  of  Ma- 
rias Cousino,  who  bored  for  it,  followed 
the  seams  out  under  the  ocean,  turned  a 
sleepy  little  fishing  village  into  a  manu- 
facturing town  of  15,000  persons,  and 
left  one  of  the  largest  fortunes  in  South 
America. 

Chile  burns  about  3,000,000  tons  of 
coal  yearly  in  normal  times.  Why  should 
she  buy  more  than  half  of  it  from  Eng- 
land and  the  United  States?  With  capi- 
tal and  efficient  mining  methods  she  could 


LTDRAL    COLLEGE    GLIMPSED    THROUGH    SAN 

probably  sell  coal  to  Peru,  Bolivia  and 
Argentina. 

She  imports  pine  lumber,  while  great 
virgin  forests  of  pine  await  the  saw  mill 
in  her  southern  provinces,  and  the  pro- 
duction of  railroad  ties,  beams,  boards, 
mine  props  and  rough  stuff  generally  is 
one  of  the  most  attractive  opportunities 
in  Chile  today,  with  lumber  markets  all 
around  her. 

Ship  tonnage  to  Chile  comes  nearer 
balancing  than  is  the  case  with  Brazil 
and  Argentina,  because  there  are  always 
nitrates  waiting  to  fill  a  ship  returning 
to  the  United  States  or  Europe,  and  also 
other  bulk  commodities  like  ore  and  con- 
centrates. In  fact,  Chile  could  often  use 
more  tonnage  for  her  exports.  But  if 
her  purchases  of  goods  threw  the  balance 
the  other  way,  it  would  be  easy  to  fill 


empty  ships  with  new  products  such  as 
paper  pulp  made  in  her  lumber  country. 

TARIFF  BENEFITS  DIVIDED 

nHlLE  exports  nearly  100,000  tons  of 
copper,  much  of  it  mined  by  Ameri- 
cans, who  have  applied  methods  de- 
veloped in  our  West  for  working  low- 
grade  deposits,  where  formerly,  with  ab- 
sence of  transportation,  nothing  under  10 
per  cent  ore  was  considered  valuable  in 
Chile.  With  capital,  much  o  fthis  cop- 
per might  be  worked  up  into  manufac- 
tured products — a  specific  opportunity 
pointed  out  by  an  American  engineer  in 
the  establishment  of  a  wire  mill,  utiliz- 
ing Chile's  moderate-priced  labor. 

The  traveler  reaching  Chile  from  the 
east  coast  countries  finds  that  imported 
articles  are  cheaper  than  in  Brazil  or 
Argentina.  Cloth- 
ing and  like  neces- 
sities are  in  some 
cases  on  a  level 
with  New  York 
prices.  This  is  due, 
he  learns,  to 
C  h  i  1  e's  revenue 
from  export  duties 
on  nitrates,  which 
make  import  duties 
o  n  merchandise 
more  reasonable 
than  in  other 
Latin  -American 
countries. 

Now,   from   ni- 
trates ammonia 
can  be  made.  Large 
quantities    of    am- 
monia are  used  in 
South  America  for 
refrigeration.      I  f 
ammonia   were 
made    in    Chile 
there     would      be 
customers    for    it 
there,  and  in  Bra- 
zil, A  r  g  e  n  t  i  na, 
tiago's  public  park       Peru    and    other 
countries    develop- 
ing livestock  and  packing  houses.     Ice  is 
still  an  expensive  luxury  in  most  South 
American  cities  and  in  the  small  towns 
and  country  districts  virtually  unknown. 
If  capital  began  making  ammonia  from 
the  Chilean  nitrates  it  would  probably 
go  on  developing  the  artificial  ice  busi- 
ness in  towns  all  over  South  America — 
the  opportunity  is  there. 

Chile  raises  two  kinds  of  wool — short 
staple  in  her  central  provinces  and  long 
staple  in  the  colder  country  down  near 
Magellan  Strait.  She  also  has  some 
woolen  mills  that  weave  good  cloth  and 
knit  underwear  and  sweaters.  These 
mills  import  all  their  woolen  yarn,  how- 
ever. And  for  a  curious  reason.  The 
short  staple  wool  alone  does  not  make 
good  yarn.  Yet  virtually  the  whole  crop 
of  long  staple  is  sold  by  the  big  ranchers 


120 


CHILE 


to  foreign  buyers,  who  ship  it  all  abroad, 
and  so  it  does  not  become  available  for 
the  Chilean  mills  until  made  into  yarn 
and  brought  back.  Capital  invested  in 
a  wool-washing  plant  in  the  south  would 
benefit  Chile  in  two  ways,  it  is  said  by 
Americans  who  have  investigated  her  in- 
dustrial and  financial  needs.  First,  make 
it  possible  for  spinning  men  to  make  their 
own  woolen  yarns;  second,  enable  the 
wool  growers  to  send  their  product  to 
market  clean  and  well  graded,  and  so 
realize  better  prices. 

CANAL  A  TRADE  MAKER 

HpHERE  are  opportunities  for  manufac- 
turing in  Chile.  The  country  offers 
coal,  raw  materials  and  labor  at  wages 
that  give  marked  advantages  over  some 
of  the  larger  industrial  countries.  Most 
of  the  existing  factories  make  products 
consumed  locally,  such  as  food  articles, 
drinks,  cigarettes,  confectionery,  furni- 
ture, pottery  and  the  like.  But  there  is 
room  for  expansion  in  textiles,  clothing, 
leather,  footwear  and  articles  which  are 
not  now  made  in  sufficient  quantities  to 
supply  demand. 

Chile  is  going  ahead  in  education 
faster  than  any  Latin-American  country. 
Some  years  ago  the  government  designed 
a  standard  schoolhouse,  adapted  to  con- 
struction on  the  unit  plan,  and  started  to 
build  it  in  more  than  5000  places 
throughout  the  country,  adapting  the  size 
to  the  communities,  and  1300  of  them 
have  been  built  already.  On  the  teach- 
ing side  the  former  German  system  is 
being  replaced  with  a  synthetic  one,  tak- 
ing what  seemed  best  for  Chile  from 
French,  English,  Italian  and  American 
education.  Scientific  agriculture  is 
taught  at  a  big  institute  in  Santiago, 
and  a  beginning  is  being  made  in  irriga- 
tion for  the  development  of  land  which 
will  be  sold  on  long  payments  to  small 
farmers,  as  an  offset  to  the  great  estates 
that  are  now  the  rule  in  Chile,  too. 

All  this  activity  reflects  Chile's  inter- 
est in  the  Panama  canal  and  the  oppor- 
tunity it  is  bringing  her,  and  she  plans 
not  merely  to  sell  so  much  more  nitrate 
and  copper,  wool  and  hides  and  buy  so 
many  more  tools  and  comforts  from 
other  countries,  but  to  make  the  canal  a 
basis  for  increasing  the  ability  and  living 
standards  of  her  whole  people. 

Every  time  Chile  sends  a  ship  through 
the  Panama  canal,  loaded  with  her  stuff, 
we  will  have  a  chance  to  send  one  back, 
loaded  with  our  products.  The  east 
coast  countries  often  lack  bulky  com- 
modities with  which  to  fill  ships  that 
bring  them  coal,  steel,  cement  and  other 
heavy  stuff.  But  with  a  couple  of  mil- 
lion tons  of  nitrates  to  deliver  to  her  cus- 
tomers every  year,  of  which  we  buy 
600,000  tons,  Chile  always  has  some- 
thing to  load  into  a  returning  ship. 

The  whole  situation,  viewed  from 
Chile,  has  so  many  possibilities  for  the 
American  manufacturer,  banker,  inves- 


tor, salesman  and  shipowner,  that  they, 
too,  had  better  get  busy  with  the  big  idea 
that  we  built  into  our  big  ditch. 


ARTICLE  LXXI 

CONTINENTAL  SYSTEM 
OF  RAILS  IS  PLANNED 

CANTIAGO,  Chile,  Jan.  17.— A 
country  built  for  Zeppelins  and  sub- 
marines, apparently. 

That  is  Chile  from  the  transportation 
standpoint. 

Mountain  and  desert  cut  the  long, 
scimitar-like  nation  into  zones.  It  is 
difficult  to  make  railroads  connect  with 
each  other,  much  less  run  straight  and 
standard — there  are  several  different 
gauges  in  her  5000  miles  of  railroad.  As 
for  harbors,  the  great  depth  and  unpro- 
tected nature  of  the  entire  west  coast  are 
notorious  and  make  the  construction  of 
port  works  difficult. 

However,  enterprise  and  ambition  are 
the  usual  characteristics  of  people  living 
in  a  country  like  that,  and  Chile  has 
them. 

She  built  the  first  railroad  in  South 
America,  barring  one  small  line  in  Brit- 
ish Guiana,  which  doesn't  count.  Or 
rather,  she  was  the  first  southern  coun- 
try to  see  merit  in  the  projects  of  a  New 
England  Yankee,  William  Wheelwright, 
who  was  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Argen- 
tina in  the  forties  and  has  statues  to  his 
memory  in  both  Chile  and  Argentina, 
because  he  was  a  pioneer  in  railroads  and 
steamship  development. 

Today  Chile  stands  third  in  railroad 
mileage,  and  has  transportation  plans 
that  are  truly  continental.  Some  of  the 
other  southern  countries  have  made  mis- 
takes in  railroading,  granting  conces- 
sions to  European  promoters  who  have 
run  railroads  solely  for  dividends,  not 
the  development  of  the  country.  But 
Chile  has  built  with  a  plan  and  kept  con- 
trol. 

The  plan  has  been  to  run  a  great  longi- 
tudinal railway  down  the  center  of  the 
country  from  the  Peruvian  border  to 
Punta  Arenas,  like  a  spinal  column,  with 
branch  lines  running  to  the  coast  and  the 
mountains  like  ribs.  Most  of  this  line  is 
finished — only  the  two  ends  are  still  to 
be  built.  And  65  per  cent  of  her  rail- 
roads belong  to  the  nation  and  are  op- 
erated by  the  government.  There  are 
the  usual  shortcomings  of  government 
railroading — too  many  employes,  deficits 
and  the  like — but  Chile  has  kept  control 
of  transportation  and  made  it  work  out 
her  plans,  even  if  she  hasn't  made  it  pay. 


A  RAIL  CUROSITY 

T^HE  first  purpose  of  the  longitudinal 
railway  was  strategic — to  place 
troops  quickly  wherever  her  long  coast 
line  was  threatened.  But  the  real  values 
have  been  economic,  and  now  if  Chile 
can  get  capital  from  us  the  next  five  or 
ten  years  she  proposes  to  connect  her  own 
producing  regions  with  improved  ports. 
More  than  that,  she  means  to  reach  over 
into  Argentina,  Bolivia  and  even  Brazil 
for  freight  traffic  in  their  products,  quot- 
ing them  lower  rates  to  the  world's  mar- 
kets through  the  Panama  canal.  In  this 
connection  it  is  interesting  to  know  that 
Chile  is  virtually  alone  in  South  America 
as  a  builder  of  international  railroads. 
She  has  run  her  lines  over  into  Bolivia 
and  Argentina,  and  would  probably  have 
been  in  Peru  as  well  were  it  not  for  in- 
ternational suspicion  in  that  direction. 

One  of  the  railroad  curiosities  in  the 
world  is  the  Brazilian  Madeira-Mamore 
line,  on  the  boundaries  of  Brazil  and  Bo- 
livia, 500  miles  from  any  railroad  con- 
nection. It  bridges  200  miles  of  rapids, 
taking  the  products  of  the  rich  Bolivian 
and  Brazilian  montana  region  down  the 
Madeira  river  to  ocean  steamers  on  the 
Amazon.  More  than  forty  years  of  re- 
peated effort  went  to  the  building  of  this 
line — a  Yankee  job  from  the  start  in 
1869,  finally  made  possible  by  Yankee  re- 
search in  tropical  diseases. 

Now,  with  a  short  railroad  extension 
from  La  Paz  to  Puerto  Pando,  in  Bo- 
livia, and  later  an  extension  to  Villa 
Bella,  it  looks  as  though  Chile  may  do 
for  the  Amazon  what  our  railroads  have 
done  for  the  Mississippi.  For  the  dis- 
tance to  tidewater  from  the  Bolivian 
montana  and  the  western  Matto  Grosso 
region  in  Brazil  will  be  cut  in  half. 
The  products  already  waiting  transpor- 
tation will  bear  a  pretty  good  rate,  being 
chiefly  rubber  and  minerals.  If  Chile 
can  quote  rates  low  enough  for  develop- 
ment, that  country  should  prosper  with 
settlers,  farming  and  livestock,  and  the 
traffic  will  go  out  of  her  port  at  Arica. 

NEED  FOR  BETTER  PORTS 

YI/'ITH  three  railroads  already  over  the 
Andes,  she  is  planning  more  to  the 
north  and  the  south,  and  they  will  be 
laid  out  with  a  view  to  freight  transpor- 
tation as  well  as  passenger  traffic — the 
present  railroads  carry  a  trifling  amount 
of  freight,  viewed  by  our  standards,  be- 
cause they  run  through  difficult  passes 
and  in  winter  are  sometimes  blocked  for 
months. 

With  ports,  the  same  story.  Along  the 
Chilean  coast  there  are  fully  sixty  har- 
bors, great  and  small,  of  which  about 
two  dozen  have  port  works  of  some  char- 
acter, ranging  from  the  busy  cities  of 
Valparaiso  and  Antofagasta  down  to 
minor  places. 

The  two  busiest  harbors  have  been 
almost  the  worst  in  point  of  economy, 


CHILE 


121 


convenience  and  safety.  Lying  open  to 
the  ocean,  with  no  docks,  it  has  been  ex- 
pensive and  damaging  to  load  and  unload 
ships  from  lighters.  But  both  Valparaiso 
and  Antofagasta  are  now  being  equipped 
with  breakwaters,  docks  and  port  equip- 
ment, and  work  on  several  others  is 
either  under  way  or  being  planned. 

Some  of  the  neglected  harbors  have 
great  possibilities.  All  Santiago's  sea 
trade  now  goes  through  Valparaiso,  but 
nearer  at  hand  is  the  new  port  of  San 
Antonio,  which  is  being  developed  with 
extensive  works.  At  the  very  bottom  of 
the  list  for  business  among  the  two  dozen 
ports  of  Chile  are  Puerto  Constitucion 
and   Puerto   Saavedra.     Constitucion  is 


the  railroads  can  reach  over  into  neigh- 
boring countries  for  traffic. 

ROADS  NEED  CAPITAL 

HpO  CARRY  out  her  continental  trans- 
portation plans  Chile  is  looking  ea- 
gerly to  us  for  capital.  At  the  present 
writing  the  construction  work  at  Puerto 
Saavedra  is  open  for  contract.  The 
terms  followed  hitherto  give  the  job  to 
a  company  that  will  build  the  port, 
finance  the  job  and  take  the  port  duties 
for  a  term  of  years  as  compensation, 
under  a  guarantee  of  interest  and  capi- 
tal from  the  government.  At  the  end 
of  the  concession  the  port  belongs  to  the 
government. 


ers,  however,  the  Chilean  commissioners 
were  unsuccessful,  the  chief  difficulty 
being,  apparently,  the  rate  of  interest 
offered.  A  Chilean  Congress  authorized 
a  5  per  cent  loan,  but  American  banking 
sentiment  favored  6  per  cent,  and  the 
commissioners  had  no  authority  to  in- 
crease the  rate.  It  is  believed  that  obsta- 
cles will  be  overcome  and  the  money 
raised  in  New  York,  or,  failing  that, 
capital  may  be  available  in  Spain. 

Chile  needs  American  railroad  equip- 
ment, methods  and  viewpoint  in  carry- 
ing her  transportation  plans  further.  As 
her  light  German  locomotives  are  re- 
placed with  heavy  American  locomotives, 
fuel  cost  comes  down  and  longer  trains 
can    be    hauled.      But    this    necessitates 


TRAIN    CROSSING    VIADUCT    NEAR    OSPALLATA  PASS 


considered  possibly  the  second  or  third 
most  important  future  port  in  Chile,  be- 
cause it  lies  opposite  four  agricultural 
provinces  that  have  no  nearby  ports,  yet 
are  growing  in  population  and  increas- 
ing their  production  of  wheat,  fruit,  veg- 
etables, wine  and  livestock.  Puerto  Saave- 
dra, farther  south,  is  in  a  similar  posi- 
tion with  reference  to  a  rich  lumber  and 
sheep  country. 

As  with  railroads,  Chile  is  improving 
her  ports  on  a  consistent  plan.  They  are 
divided  into  three  classes.  Some  are 
suited  for  coastwise  trade,  others  for 
Chile's  own  export  and  import  com- 
merce, and  still  others  are  regarded  as 
"ports  of   penetration,"   through   which 


The  need  of  capital  for  her  railroads 
is  so  great  that  last  summer  Chile  sent 
a  commission  to  the  United  States  to 
borrow  money.  The  state  railways  today 
have  hardly  one-third  as  much  rolling 
stock  and  equipment  as  are  needed  to 
handle  their  growing  traffic,  and  the 
enormous  increase  in  fuel  and  labor  costs 
during  the  war  has  caused  a  deficit. 
Money  is  needed  to  buy  equipment  first, 
and  then  build  railroad  extensions.  If  it 
is  not  forthcoming  service  on  some  of  the 
state  railroads  may  have  to  be  suspended, 
it  is  said.  The  loan  required  amounts 
to  $30,000,000,  and  large  orders  for 
railway  equipment  would  be  given  in  the 
country  where  it  is  floated.  After  three 
months'  negotiation  with  American  bank- 


stronger  bridges  and  a  better  roadbed, 
and  is  probably  the  beginning  of  bigger 
cars,  easier  grades,  standard  gauge  tracks 
and  other  improvements  which  will  cut 
Chile's  freight  rates  as  they  have  cut 
ours.  She  understands  her  needs  and  is 
turning  to  the  right  shop  to  supply  them. 


ARTICLE  LXXII 

BANKS  ARE  ON  WRONG 
FOREIGN  TRADE  TRACK 

gANTIAGO,  Chile,  Jan.  19.— Be- 
cause American  banks  and  manufac- 
turers are  blindly  grasping  for  imme- 
diate opportunities  in  world  trade  and 
reaching  out  for  the  sale  in  sight  today, 


122 


CHILE 


and  even  the  com- 
mission on  the  sale, 
they  are  killing  our 
chances  for  world 
outlets   tomorrow. 

So   says  George 
L.     Duval,     an 
American     m  e  r  - 
chant,     w  h  o     has 
been     doing     busi- 
ness in  Chile  since 
1888     and    whose 
views  are  certainly 
worth    the   consid- 
eration of  the  people  who  have  been  do- 
ing business  with  Chile  and  other  Latin- 
American  countries  on  the  "cash  in  New 
York"  basis  since  about  1916. 

Nearly  one  hundred  years  ago — in 
1827 — a  Boston  merchant  and  ship- 
builder established  a  line  of  Yankee 
clippers  between  that  city  and  Chile.  His 
name  was  Augustus  Hemingway,  and  he 
backed  his  ships  with  a  mercantile  house 
in  Valparaiso  which  distributed  Ameri- 
can goods — introducing  our  cottons, 
woolens,  shoes,  machine  tools,  Yankee 
notions. 

Among  other  things  he  introduced 
Yankee  lamp  oil  into  Chile  when  that  re- 
placed Yankee  whale  oil  and  candles. 

In  contrast,  the  Standard  Oil  Co.  just 
the  other  day  dodged  the  job  of  setting 
up  American  connections  in  Chile  and 
made  connections  with  a  British  distrib- 
uting house! 

August  Hemingway  did  business  with 
partners.  When  he  died,  after  unsuc- 
cessful efforts  to  live  up  to  the  laws  of 
his  country  and  operate  steamships  under 
the  American  flag,  the  firm  name  was 
changed,  according  to  surviving  partners. 
It  has  changed  through  the  years,  as  one 
partner  succeeded  another,  until  today, 
still  a  partnership,  it  is  Wessel,  Duval 
&  Co.,  with  houses  in  New  York  and 
throughout  Chile.  Temptations  to  turn 
it  into  a  corporation  have  been  resisted. 
It  is  one  of  the  big  American  mercantile 
houses  in  Chile,  handling  many  lines, 
among  others  Baldwin  locomotives  and 
Westinghouse  airbrakes. 

"GEORGE,"  THE  MERCHANT 

HPHE  present  junior  partner  is  Jorge 
L.  Duval — in  the  United  States 
they  call  him  "George."  Going  to  Chile 
in  1888,  a  young  New  Yorker,  he  has 
since  been  living  there  most  of  the  time. 
He  saw  then  that  American  goods  could 
not  be  sold  to  the  Chilenos  either  by 
long  distance  or  spasmodic  methods.  It 
required  the  merchant,  actually  living  in 
the  country  and  in  close  contact  with  the 
people. 

So  Jorge  Duval  became  a  merchant  in 
that  sense.  He  knows  everybody  in 
Chile  from  the  president  down,  is  promi- 
nent socially  as  well  as  in  business,  and 
is  especially  known  for  his  charities.  He 
is,  in  fact,  the  type  of  merchant  who  in 
world  trade  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as 


LOCOMOTIVE    SHOPS   FOR   CHILEAN   GOVERNMENT   RAILWAYS 
BUILT   BY  U.    S.    CORPORATION 


"old-fashioned"  by  the  brisker  genera- 
tion of  today.  And  he  is  old-fashioned 
in  the  same  sense  as  the  solid,  construc- 
tive British  merchants  of  a  generation  or 
two  ago,  who  laid  the  foundation  of 
British  world  trade,  were  old-fashioned. 
Mr.  Duval  believes  that  merchants  are  7 
absolutely  indispensable  in  building 
American  world  trade,  and  the  more  old- 
fashioned  the  better.  And  he  sees  grave 
^danger  in  the  invasion  of  the  merchant's 
field  by  American  bankers  and  manu- 
facturers. 

"The  merchant  is  more  than  a  trader," 
he  said  to  the  writer.  "He  is  a  clearing 
house  of  information  and  a  constructive 
developer  of  new  country.  In  the  days 
when  British  world  trade  was  being  built 
up  the  great  acceptance  and  banking 
houses  of  London  were  called  'mer- 
chants,' and  the  actual  traders  whose  op- 
erations they  financed  were  known  as 
'commercial  houses.'  To  broaden  trade, 
these  acceptance  houses  set  up  commer- 
cial men,  and  the  latter,  through  this 
banking  connection,  had  the  highest 
credit  and  character.  They  went  beyond 
selling  and  buying,  finding  capital  for  the 
development  of  industries  like  wool 
growing  in  Tierra  del  Fuego  here  in 
Chile.  On  their  word,  very  often,  the 
British  banker  and  investor  put  money 
into  railroads,  trams,  utilities,  plantations 
and  other  enterprises  in  foreign  coun- 
tries. These  investments  increased  the 
earning  and  buying  power  of  the  people 
in  countries  like  the  Latin-American  re- 
publics, and  consequently  the  sales  of 
British  manufactures  increased. 

"The  British  merchant  has  deteri- 
orated. He  changed  under  the  pressure 
of  German  competition.  He  never  went 
the  same  lengths  as  the  Germans,  who 
did  not  hesitate  to  gain  advantages  by 
corrupting  customs  officials,  but  many  de- 
plorable practices  have  crept  in,  in  con- 
trast to  the  high  commercial  honor  of 
other  days. 


power,   as 
products. 


a   basis 
In   my 


TRADING 
BANKS  A 
"PLAGUE" 

"THE  United 
States  faces 
the  same  task  of 
establishing  world 
markets  by  the  in- 
vestment of  capital 
in  other  countries, 
and  further  devel- 
opment of  indus- 
tries and  buying 
for  selling  its  own 
experience  the  mer- 
chant is  needed  for  that  task.  It  can- 
not be  done  by  the  manufacturer  at 
a  distance.  It  cannot  be  done  by  the 
manufacturer's  salesmen  making  occa- 
sional visits  to  other  countries.  It  can- 
not be  done  by  the  banker  nor  the  New 
York  commission  houses  filling  long-dis- 
tance orders.  It  must  be  done  by  the 
merchant  living  on  the  spot,  in  touch 
with  the  people,  creating  channels  for 
American  goods,  keeping  those  channels 
open  and  constantly  enlarging  them. 

"Our  goods  are  of  such  quality  and  so 
well  liked  in  other  countries  that  sales 
have  shown  a  steady  increase  since  our 
industrial  spurt  began  in  the  nineties, 
though  we  have  lacked  facilities  for 
world  trade.  Now  with  banks  and  ships 
and  other  tools  we  need  merchants  in 
keeping  with  our  goods — men  of  the 
highest  standards,  who  will  not  lower 
them  in  the  competition  which  is  coming 
as  soon  as  industrial  Europe  rights  itself. 
"Unfortunately,  neither  our  manufac- 
turers nor  bankers  seem  to  realize  that 
the  merchant  has  his  definite  field  in 
world  trade,  and  that  he  should  be  in- 
telligently supported  therein.  We  have 
American  banks  actually  competing  with 
American  merchants  in  the  sale  of  goods 
for  export,  and  American  manufacturers 
endeavoring  to  represent  themselves  in 
countries  where  the  merchant  could  rep- 
resent them  better.  Worst  of  all,  we  have 
American  manufacturers  playing  into  the 
hands  of  competitors  for  sheer  lack  of 
definite  world  trade  policy. 

"Our  American  banks  with  world 
branches  have  made  the  mistake  of  ally- 
ing themselves  with  trading  companies. 
They  ask  the  American  merchant  abroad 
to  do  business  through  them.  He  is 
afraid  to  let  them  handle  documents  re- 
vealing his  customers'  names  and  pur- 
chases, because  these  papers  supply  infor- 
mation upon  which  the  allied  trading 
companies  can  compete  with  him.  The 
merchant  maintains  a  stock  of  American 
products  in  another  country.  He  takes 
all  the  commercial  risks,  gives  his  cus- 
tomers credit  and  service,  increases  the 
volume  of  trade.  Then  these  banking- 
trading  corporations  intervene,  selling  to 
his  customers  on  commission — often 
quoting  lower  rates.  They  carry  no 
stocks    abroad,    take   no    risks,    give    no 


CHILE 


credit  or  service,  build  no  business.  They 
are  plagues  of  American  commerce.  They 
have  broken  up  the  confidential  relation 
that  must  exist  between  merchant  and 
banker,  and  if  allowed  to  go  on  and  de- 
stroy American  merchants  abroad  they 
will  destroy  American  business  too,  be- 
cause they  have  no  organization  for  carry- 
ing on  the  merchant's  work. 

NOT  REAL  "CREDITOR  "NATION" 

'""THE  same  immediate  view  they  take 
of  merchandising — to  get  the  order 
of  today  in  the  cheapest  way  without 
building  for  the  future — applies  to  their 
investment  abroad.  Instead  of  lending 
capital  for  the  development  of  countries 
that  are  poor  but  sound  credit  risks,  they 
demand  high  interest  and  guarantees. 
Despite  the  talk  we  have  heard  the  last 
year  about  America  as  a  creditor  nation, 
and  New  York  as  a  world  financial  cen- 
ter, we  have  really  loaned  very  little 
money  to  Latin-American  countries. 
There  has  been  much  investigation,  but 
little  actual  cash,  and  in  several  instances 
American  bankers'  terms  to  southern 
countries  have  been  not  merely  impossi- 
ble, but  insulting  in  their  reflections  upon 
national  credit. 

"We  have  heard  a  lot  about  'dollar 
exchange,'  a  sort  of  catch  phrase  with  our 
bankers.  How  can  we  have  dollar  ex- 
change until  we  have  billions  of  dollars 
invested  in  other  countries,  like  Eng- 
land, creating  the  trade  that  makes 
money  flow  back  and  forth  ?  Dollar  ex- 
change today  is  a  fleabite  in  world 
finance.  Everything  is  figured  back  to 
pounds  sterling.  To  get  dollar  exchange 
we  must  become  creditors  of  other  na- 
tions. 

"Our  manufacturers  are  working  dam- 
age to  their  future  interests  by  the  same 
shortsighted  grasping  of  the  immediate 
"  opportunity  today.  They  will  sell  goods 
to  anybody  who 
sends  an  order 
from  another 
country,  accom- 
panied by  cash. 
They  appoint  rep- 
r  e  s  e  n  t  a  tives  in 
other  countries 
without  investiga- 
tion or  sufficient 
safeguards  to  pro- 
tect themselves.  As 
a  consequ  ence, 
American  goods 
which  should  be 
represented  by  an 
A  m  e  r  i  c  an  mer- 
chant are  often 
r  e  p  r  e  s  e  nted  by 
people  of  other 
nationalities,  who 
will  suppress  their 
sales  when  compet- 
ing goods  are  avail- 
able  from    their 


own  country.  Today  they  are  glad  to 
have  American  stuff  to  sell.  But  tomor- 
row they  will  say  to  customers,  'Why 
.do  you  want  that  American  stuff?'  and 
when  the  customer  explains  that  he  likes 
it  they  will  reply,  'We'll  sell  you  the 
American  stuff,  but  here  is  something 
just  as  good  for  less  money.'  And  the 
competing  article  will  capture  the  mar- 
ket, because  the  American  manufacturer, 
looking  only  to  the  immediate  sale,  will 
have  the  wrong  representation  or  no  rep- 
resentation at  all.  Will  he  turn,  then, 
to  the  American  merchant?  There  may 
be  no  American  merchant.  There  may 
have  been  American  merchants  once  in 
that  particular  market,  but  the  Ameri- 
can manufacturer  and  the  American 
banker  will  have  exterminated  them." 


ARTICLE  LXXIII 
AMERICAN  SHIPPERS  AID 
CLEVER  FREIGHT  THIEVES 

§ANTIAGO,  Chile,  Jan.  21. -After 
several  mysterious  thefts  from  cases 
which  apparently  had  not  been  tampered 
with,  an  American  in  Valparaiso,  Chile, 
frankly  asked  a  Chilean  thief  how  it  was 
done.  Underwear,  hosiery,  silks  and 
other  valuable  merchandise  disappears 
from  cases  on  lighters  between  ship  and 
shore,  and  even  from  shipments  that  are 
being  guarded.  The  stuff  is  replaced 
with  bricks  and  stones  to  make  up  weight, 
and  the  case  shows  no  signs  of  tamper- 
ing, even  though  protected  by  what  ship- 
pers think  are  safeguards. 


SHORT    STOP    HEFORE    LONG    Tt'NNET,    JOURNEY 


123 

The  Chilean  did  not  want  to  talk,  of 
course,  but  was  finally  persuaded. 

"You  nail  up  a  case,"  he  said.  "Turn 
your  back  to  me  and  lean  against  it.  I 
will  open  it  without  your  hearing  or  feel- 
ing anything." 

This  was  done,  and  the  test  success- 
fully carried  through  in  less  than  a  min- 
ute. When  the  Chileno  said,  "Tambien, 
senor,"  the  astonished  American  found 
that  a  board  had  been  removed  noise- 
lessly in  those  few  seconds  and  the  goods 
inside  exposed. 

Then  the  Chileno  exhibited  his  ap- 
paratus, which  was  a  series  of  wooden 
wedges,  beginning  with  one  that  had  a 
paper-thin  edge,  which  was  inserted  first 
under  a  board  and  quickly  followed  up 
with  thicker  ones. 

One  man  in  Chile  has  made  a  thorough 
study  of  pilfering  and  thievery  from  im- 
port shipments— G.  G.  Rosenthal,  in 
charge  of  the  customs  house  department 
of  Wessell,  Duval  &  Co.,  a  large  gen- 
eral merchandise  concern,  with  branches 
in  Valparaiso,  Santiago  and  other  Chil- 
ean centers,  as  well  as  New  York.  He 
has  some  suggestions  to  give  American 
business  men  which,  if  followed  intelli- 
gently, will  cut  down  those  losses  and 
also  facilitate  sales  in  world  trade. 

U.  S.  SHIPPERS  CARELESS 

^yHEN  the  Germans  decided  to  enter 
Latin-American  markets  they  sent 
experts  to  study  packing  and  rigidly  fol- 
lowed the  requirements  of  each  country 
and  trade.  The  English  had  been  meet- 
ing those  requirements  for  a  century, 
more  or  less.  Many  American  concerns! 
however,  even  fail  to  follow  shipping  in- 
structions, much  less  make  a  study  on  the 
spot,  and  through  lack  of  technical  in- 
formation, which  is  simple  enough  once 
understood,  virtually  assist  thieves  in 
stealing  from  their  shipments. 

When  a  British 
or  German  ship- 
ping clerk  packs  an 
export  order  he 
makes  the  case  fit 
the  merchandise. 
But  when  the 
American  shipping 
clerk  has  an  export 
order  he  sizes  it  up 
with  his  eye,  selects 
an  old  box,  piles 
the  stuff  in,  and,  if 
it  does  not  fill  out 
nicely,  adds  excel- 
sior, o  1  d  news- 
paper, broken 
boxes  or  other 
trash.  He  does  not 
know  that  this  box 
will  be  piled  under 
a  ton  of  other  stuff 
in  the  ship's  hold, 
t  h  a  t  it  will  be 
lifted  by  cranes 
and    that    in    har- 


124 


CHILE 


bors  like  Val- 
paraiso it  must  be 
dropped  into  a 
lighter  in  a  rough 
sea  at  night.  Even 
if  the  box  stands 
handling,  it  is  easy 
for  a  thief  to  pry 
a  board  loose  at 
one  end,  remove 
the  goods  and  cover 
up  outward  signs 
of  tampering. 

Various  devices 
are  used  to  prevent 
this.  Wire  and 
metal  strapping  are 
nailed  around  the 
end  of  the  box. 
These  are  useless. 
Zinc  lining  inside 
is  supposed  to  pro- 
tect shipment,  but 
thieves  lift  boards 
and  take  out  goods. 
Boxes  are  sewed 
up  in  burlap,  but 
thieves    rip    that 

and  cleverly  sew  it  up  again.  Edges  of 
boxes  are  painted  to  reveal  tampering, 
but  this  is  useless  when  similar  paint  can 
be  obtained. 

Mr.  Rosenthal  has  found  only  two  de- 
vices that  really  prevent  theft.  One  is 
the  use  of  a  double  box,  the  inner  one 
made  with  boards  running  straight,  and 
the  outer  one  with  diagonal  boards.  To 
get  into  that  it  is  necessary  to  remove  all 
the  diagonal  boards  from  one  side  of  the 
case  before  an  inner  board  can  be  taken 
off.  The  other  contrivance  is  a  staple 
driven  into  each  place  where  boards  join, 
and  marked  with  a  business  concern's 
initials,  so  that  thieves  will  have  no  simi- 
lar staples  to  cover  up  tampering.  The 
purpose  in  both  cases  is  to  ship  in  con- 
tainers that  will  instantly  show  signs  of 
tampering,  thus  facilitating  quick  check 
ing  up  of  goods  as  they  pass  from  hand 
to  hand.  The  diagonal  outer  box  has  the 
disadvantage  of  adding  to  weight — this 
increases  freight  and  also  duty  in  coun- 
tries where  the  tariff  is  paid  on  con- 
tainer as  well  as  goods.  But  undoubt- 
edly American  ingenuity  could  devise 
containers  of  lighter  material,  utilizing 
the  truss  construction  to  gain  strength. 

THIEF-PROOF  CASES 

TN  THE  United  States  lumber  is  less 
costly  than  in  any  other  country.  Yet 
the  shipping  room  uses  it  stingily,  thinks 
of  cheap  qualities  in  connection  with 
packages  and  has  an  obstinate  partiality 
for  old  boxes  and  crates.  Since  prohibi- 
tion many  shipments  of  plumbing  goods 
have  been  arriving  in  Valparaiso  packed 
in  beer  barrels,  and  duty  must  be  paid 
on  these  heavy  oak  casks.  Europe  uses 
containers  built  to  fit  the  goods  and  is 
not  afraid  to  spend  money  for  good 
grades  of  lumber,  because  theft  is  pre- 


cause  there  are  not 
enough  steam 
cranes  to  do  the 
job  immediately. 

Many  Amer- 
ican concerns  have 
overcome  packing 
troubles,  but  have 
yet  to  grasp 
the  philosophy  of 
marking  their  ex- 
p  o  r  t  shipments 
with  correct  in- 
formation on  cases 
— and  nothing  else. 

CONSIGNEE 
PAYS   FOR 
ERRORS 

rVHE    first 


need  i  s 
marks  that 
not  rub  off. 
shipping 


great 
for 
will 
The 

clerk's 


TRANS-ANDEAN   VIEW    SHOWING   RAILROAD    DIFFICULTIES    IN    CHILE 


vented  and  customers  pleased.  When  the 
merchandise  is  made  to  fit  the  box,  the 
latter  usually  proves  too  big,  and  freight 
must  be  paid  on  superfluous  space- — the 
ton  in  ocean  freight  rates  is  not  a  weight 
but  a  cubic  measure. 

The  Chileans  steal  chiefly  things  to 
wear,  with  small  valuable  articles  like 
magnetos  and  brass  fittings.  It.  is  not 
organized  crime,  with  arrangements  for 
disposing  of  plunder  through  receivers  of 
stolen  goods,  but  more  in  the  nature  of 
pilfering  for  personal  use.  Stolen  under- 
wear often  turns  up  on  the  backs  of  har- 
bor workers,  and  proof  of  theft  might  be 
secured  with  a  little  police  work.  But 
nobody  prosecutes  in  Chile  for  such  of- 
fenses, because  two  witnesses  are  needed, 
and  cases  call  principals  to  court  so  many 
times  that  they  are  given  up  in  disgust. 
Shipping  men  of  long  experience  actually 
know  most  of  the  thieves  and  merely 
take  steps  to  keep  them  off  their  own 
ships.  Assistance  from  shippers  in  the 
United  States,  through  the  use  of  better 
packages,  would  help  greatly. 

Some  shipments  are  unquestionably  pil- 
fered in  the  United  States,  in  warehouses 
and  on  docks.  Other  thefts  occur  at  in- 
termediate ports  as  ships  stop  along  the 
way  and  are  unloaded  by  longshoremen. 
About  70  per  cent  of  the  thieving,  how- 
ever, occurs  on  the  lighters  used  to  carry 
goods  from  ship  to  shore.  Suspicion  is 
often  directed  to  Chilean  customs  offi- 
cials, but  in  Mr.  Rosenthal's  opinion  this 
is  an  injustice,  and  merchandise  in  the 
Chilean  customs  houses  is  safer  than  any- 
where along  the  line. 

The  difficulty  is  really  one  of  inade- 
quate facilities  in  Chilean  ports.  Ships 
are  quickly  unloaded  to  save  time;  light- 
ers tie  up  at  the  shore  and  often  wait 
several  days  for  a  chance  to  unload,  be- 


mixture  of  lamp- 
black and  turpen- 
tine is  poor  stuff — 
it  rubs  off,  runs  and  disappears.  When 
one  or  two  figures  in  a  number  are  gone 
there  is  great  confusion.  Permanent  paint 
should  be  used.  If  information  could  be 
burned  or  perforated  on  boxes,  so  much 
the  better.  An  adequate  marking  device 
would  be  very  welcome.  Weights  should 
be  accurate — a  five-ton  crane  was  nearly 
wrecked  recently  at  Valparaiso  because 
a  machinery  shipment  marked  three  tons 
really  weighed  seven.  Heavy  shipments 
should  be  marked  with  correct  weight, 
to  guide  stevedores,  and  damage  is  often 
prevented  by  indicating  where  slings  are 
to  be  put,  to  prevent  crushing.  Ship- 
ping clerks  should  distinguish  between 
boxes  and  crates.  The  Chileans  call  a 
package  a  crate  when  the  hands  can  be 
inserted  between  boards,  and  if  boxes 
are  marked  "crates"  in  an  invoice,  as 
often  occurs,  the  customs  house  may  re- 
fuse to  deliver  them  without  a  petition, 
and  maybe  a  lawsuit.  All  marks  should 
be  stenciled,  not  written,  and  care  taken 
to  eliminate  superfluous  marks.  Much 
trouble  is  caused  by  numbers,  phrases, 
trademarks  and  other  information  placed 
on  export  shipments  by  shipping  clerks, 
railroads,  express  companies  and  others 
who  handle  them  in  transit.  The  Chil- 
ean customs  house,  like  many  others,  is 
very  literal  in  interpreting  marks,  and 
either  wrong  or  superfluous  information 
throws  suspicion  of  stolen  goods  upon 
the  receiver,  and  perhaps  involves  a  fine. 
There  is  suspicion  that  he  is  trying  to 
cheat  through  false  information,  or  that 
he  may  even  be  trying  to  obtain  goods 
belonging  to  some  one  else.  If  his  papers 
call  for  twelve  boxes,  for  instance,  and 
the  packages  are  really  crates,  the  cus- 
toms house  may  hold  that  his  stuff  has 
not  arrived,  and  that  the  crates  belong 
to  some  one  else. 


CHILE 


125 


The  philosophy  of  the  ship's  manifest 
should  be  understood — it  clears  up  many 
difficulties.  All  the  goods  brought  by 
every  ship  reaching  Chile  are  described 
in  detail — the  number  and  weight  of 
packages,  kinds  of  goods,  consignees  and 
so  forth.  This  ship's  manifest  is  the  only 
document  that  has  any  legal  status  with 
the  Chilean  customs  house.  Marks  on 
the  packages  are  closely  compared  with 
descriptions  in  the  manifest  for  identifi- 
cation, and  one  customs  house  employe  is 
checked  by  others  to  insure  accuracy  and 
honesty.  Fines  are  imposed  on  consignees 
even  for  discrepancies  between  the  mani- 
fest and  package  marks,  and  customs  offi- 
cials receive  a  percentage  of  the  fine.  The 
consignee  is,  therefore,  strictly  at  the 
mercy  of  shippers  in  the  United  States 
who  embody  wrong  information  in  docu- 
ments or  on  packages,  even  through  error, 
and  a  little  practical  experience  at  the 
other  fellow's  end  will  give  one  a  respect 
for  painstaking  accuracy. 


ARTICLE  LXXIV 

CHILE  HAS  HER  DENTISTRY 
MARKETS  CORNERED 

CANTIAGO,  Chile,  Jan.  23.— While 
the  Latin  American  is  in  New  York 
usually  he  improves  the  opportunity  to 
have  his  teeth  put  in  shape.  Maybe  those 
of  the  whole  family  if  they  are  along, 
and  they  probably  are.  For  the  reputa- 
tion of  Yankee  dentistry  is  high  on  the 
southern  continent. 

Thus  it  happens  that  many  of  our  den- 
tists have  Latin-American  patrons  and 
because  they  are  well-to-do,  for  the  most 
part,  and  free  spending,  a  belief  has 
grown  up  that  Latin  America  must  be  a 
fine  field  for  our  dentists.  Many  a  grad- 
uate thinks  about  emigrating  there,  and 
many  a  practitioner 

However,  that 
belief  is  quite  mis- 
taken, according 
to  a  Philadelphian 
who  deals  in  dental 
supplies  in  Santi- 
ago, Chile.  Wil- 
liam H.  Spearing 
represents  a  Phila- 
delphia concern, 
the  S.  S.  White 
Dental  Manufac- 
turing Co.,  and 
during  the  last  ten 
years  has  traveled 
from  Mexico  to 
Patagonia. 

He  says  that 
American  dentists 
found  a  good  field 
in  Latin  America 
fifteen  or  twenty 
years  ago,  because 
dentistry    was    not 


taught  in  the  southern  countries  nor 
practiced  by  their  own  people  to  any  ex- 
tent. But  today  there  are  dental  schools 
in  most  of  the  republics,  even  though  they 
may  be  small,  and  their  graduates  more 
than  supply  the  demands  of  perhaps  20 
to  25  per  cent  of  the  people  who  can 
afford  dentistry.  There  is  a  disposition 
in  some  of  the  countries  to  bar  out  for- 
eign dentists  through  stiff  examinations 
and  keep  the  profession  to  themselves — in 
some  cases  this  even  goes  the  length  of 
excluding  applicants  from  other  Latin- 
American  countries. 

DENTISTRY  SAVED  INDEMNITY 

DEFORE  the  immigrant  dentist  can 
practice  he  must  know  the  language 
of  the  country  and  pass  a  rigid  examina- 
tion in  Spanish  or  Portuguese.  These  re- 
quirements have  been  met  by  the  Ameri- 
can dental  colony  in  Brazil — probably 
the  largest  in  South  America — by  taking 
on  new  arrivals  as  assistants  while  they 
were  learning  the  language,  and  later, 
after  passing  their  examination,  they 
were  qualified  to  set  up  practice  them- 
selves. 

One  of  the  best  denial  schools  in 
Latin  America  is  in  Chile,  the  Escuela 
Dental  de  Santiago,  and  the  story  of  its 
founding  illustrates  the  development  of 
the  profession  in  recent  years. 

One  night,  about  a  decade  ago,  the 
German  legation  in  Santiago  burned  to 
the  ground,  and  the  remains  of  a  body 
were   found  in   the   ruins.      It  appeared 


X  CENTRAL  CHILE  HAS  SURF  COMPARABLE  WITH  THE  OCEAN 


that  only  two  persons  had  been  in  the 
building  the  night  before,  the  German 
secretary  of  the  legation  and  a  Chilean 
guard.  Suspicion  suggested  that  the  sec- 
retary had  been  murdered  by  the  Chi- 
leno  and  the  building  robbed  and  fired. 
The  German  Government  demanded  a 
heavy  indemnity,  and  the  Chilean  Gov- 
ernment was  about  to  pay  it.  Dozens  of 
detectives  had  run  down  every  discov- 
eiable  clue,  and  failed  to  find  evidence 
that  it  was  the  German  who  had  mur- 
dered the  guard,  as  was  maintained  by 
the  Chileans. 

A  Chilean  surgeon,  Valenzuela  Bas- 
tarica,  undertook  a  little  Sherlock 
Holmes  work  on  his  own  account.  In 
Paris  he  had  studied  dentistry.  Visiting 
the  dentists  in  Santiago  one  by  one,  he 
not  only  found  a  practitioner  who  had 
done  work  for  the  German  secretary,  but 
who  had  kept  a  diagram  of  the  different 
fillings  and  crowns — an  S.  S.  White  dia- 
gram, by  the  way,  made  in  Philadelphia. 
Comparison  with  the  skull  found  in  the 
burned  legation  proved  that  it  was  the 
poor  Chileno  who  had  been  murdered, 
and  the  indemnity  was  not  paid.  A  lit- 
tle later  the  German  was  arrested,  and 
then  it  came  out  that  he  had  been  short 
in  his  accounts. 

GERMAN  ADVANCE  ROUTED 

TPHE  Chilean  Congress  not  only  passed 
a   vote   of   thanks   to    Doctor   Bas- 
tarica,  but  asked  him  what  the  country 
could  do  to  express  its  appreciation.   The 
doctor  suggested  that  a  dental  school  be 
founded.      Whereupon   the   government 
gave    him    the    job,    and    after   visiting 
France  and  the  United  States  he  estab- 
lished  a   thoroughly   modern   institution 
and   became   its   director.      This   school 
turns  out  about  one  hundred  graduates 
yearly,   and   the   profession   of  dentistry 
is  as  far  advanced 
in  Chile  as  in  any 
other  Latin-Amer- 
ican     country. 
There     is     a     fine 
school    in    Buenos 
Aires,    and    others 
in   Rio  de  Janeiro 
and      Sao      Paulo, 
while    the    smaller 
countries   maintain 
"schools"  where 
apprentices     learn- 
ing  the   profession 
in    dentists'    offices 
can     be     examined 
and     qualify     for 
practice.         Thus, 
apart     from     any 
feeling  there  might 
be    against   outside 
practitioners,   com- 
petition has  become 
very  keen,  and  Mr. 
Spearing's      advice 
to    the    American 


126 


CHILE 


dentist  who  pictures  the  southern  conti- 
nent as  a  land  of  opportunity  is — stay 
home! 

While  there  may  be  few  opportuni- 
ties for  American  dentists,  our  dental  ap- 
paratus and  supplies  are  purchased  to 
such  an  extent  that  they  practically  mo- 
nopolize the  Latin-American  market. 
About  ten  years  ago  the  Germans  made 
a  determined  effort  to  displace  our  goods 
with  stuff  of  cheaper  quality,  and  Mr. 
Spearing  began  traveling  through  Cen- 
tral and  South  America  for  the  Phila- 
delphia concern.  Defensive  tactics  com- 
prised closer  connections  with  the  dental 
supply  dealers  in  the  different  countries 
and  demonstrations  of  American  ap- 
paratus and  materials  to  the  dentists  and 
before  dental  classes.  At  one  time  Mr. 
Spearing  carried  nearly  three  dozen 
trunks  filled  with  equipment  for  these 
demonstrations  and  visited  towns  that 
had  to  be  reached  by  horse  and  pack  ani- 
mals. German  goods  did  not  gain  a 
foothold,  and  the  Philadelphia  company 
maintains  its  contact  with  Latin-Ameri- 
can practitioners  by  frequently  sending 
representatives  to  demonstrate  new  things 
and  back  up  its  dealers. 

A  good  many  Latin-American  stu- 
dents still  go  to  the  United  States  for 
training,  and  probably  always  will.  For 
American  dental  colleges  are  so  large 
and  technical  progress  is  so  constant  that 
our  supremacy  in  this  profession  is  ac- 
knowledged. The  better  Latin-Ameri- 
can dental  schools  endeavor  to  maintain 
a  high  standard  of  teaching  by  contact 
with  our  own  institutions. 

DEVELOPMENT  PROMISED 

TECHNICAL  methods  frequently 
differ  from  our  own,  partly  because 
the  Latin  Americans  prefer  to  do  some- 
thing in  a  different  way  and  partly 
through  distance  from  the  latest  profes- 
sional improvements. 

As  an  instance,  general  anesthesia  is 
commonly  used  in  the  United  States,  but 
in  Latin  America  hardly  at  all,  local 
anesthesia  being  preferred.  There  is 
something  in  the  Latin  nature  that  makes 
both  the  practitioner  and  his  patient 
afraid  of  anesthetics  like  nitrous  oxide, 
or  "laughing  gas,"  which  puts  one  to 
sleep,  and  it  has  been  found  practically 
useless  to  demonstrate  such  things. 

When  an  American  is  following  some 
method  of  yesterday,  and  the  salesman 
comes  around  with  a  better  way  or  ap- 
paratus today,  the  demonstration  will 
probably  begin  hammer  and  tongs,  prov- 
ing that  the  method  of  yesterday  belongs 
on  the  scrapheap. 

But  the  Latin  American  must  be  han- 
dled in  another  fashion.  He  is  highly 
sensitive,  and  criticism  of  a  method  or 
even  apparatus  that  he  uses  is  interpreted 
as  criticism  of  himself.  He  has  a  good 
deal  of  finesse,  and  prefers  indirect  dem- 
onstration.    Let  him  first  show  how  he 


does  a  thing,  commend  his  method  and 
skill,  and  then  show  him  your  way.  In- 
stead of  even  suggesting  that  your  way  is 
better,  quicker,  cheaper  or  preferable  in 
any  respect,  simply  introduce  it  as  the 
latest  way,  or  the  way  you  prefer,  or  even 
just  another  way.  Don't  expect  to  close 
the  sale  then.  A  reaction  must  take  place 
in  his  mind.  A  few  days  later  you  will 
probably  find  that  he  has  quietly  sent 
somebody  else  around  to  make  the  pur- 
chase and  adopted  your  method  with- 
out letting  you  know  about  it. 

During  the  next  five  or  ten  years  there 
promises  to  be  a  great  development  of 
medicine,  surgery  and  health  matters 
generally  in  the  leading  countries  of 
South  America.  It  is  a  natural  part  of 
general  improvement  in  standards  of  liv- 
ing, in  education,  earning  power  and 
broadening  of  suffrage.  At  this  writing 
the  Chilean  Congress  is  discussing  a  plan 
to  send  a  medical  commission  to  the 
United  States  and  Europe  to  study  and 
adopt  the  latest  methods.  Dentistry 
throughout  the  southern  continent  will 
unquestionably  benefit  by  this  tendency 
and  be  extended  to  more  of  the  people, 
perhaps  through  the  new  public  schools 
which  are  being  planned  or  built  in  most 
of  the  countries. 


ARTICLE  LXXV 

MOTORBUS  IS  POPULAR 

IN  CAPITAL  OF  CHILE 

CANTIAGO,  Chile,  Jan.  2.5.— One 
Yankee  notion  in  very  good  demand 
just  now  over  pretty  much  all  South 
America  is  the  motorbus.  Like  our- 
selves, people  on  the  southern  continent 
are  ready  for  de  luxe  street  transporta- 
tion, something  that  costs  a  little  more 
than  the  trolley  car  and  goes  faster,  yet 
not  so  expensive  as  the  taxicab.  Wherever 
motorbus  service  has  been  started  it  is 
popular  with  the  public  and  profitable  to 
the  promoters  when  well  managed.  It 
promises  new  outlets  for  our  automobile 
industry,  and  also  opportunities  for 
Americans  in  the  organization  and  opera- 
tion of  motorbus  lines  in  Latin-Ameri- 
can cities. 

A  typical  instance  of  how  it  works  is 


found   in   the  new   motorbus  service  of 
Santiago,  Chile. 

An  American  mining  engineer,  Fritz 
Mella,  got  interested  in  a  motorbus  serv- 
ice operated  by  Americans  in  Antofa- 
gasta,  Chile's  busy  mining  port,  and  de- 
cided something  of  that  kind  would  be 
appreciated  in  Santiago,  where  he  has  a 
consulting  practice.  When  he  got  home 
a  little  company  was  formed,  virtually 
among  Americans  in  his  office.  Setting 
the  capital  at  $50,000  in  our  money,  they 
went  into  the  enterprise  as  a  speculation, 
deciding  to  begin  on  a  small  scale  so  that 
none  of  the  stockholders  would  be  ruined 
if  it  failed,  and  experience  would  not  be 
too  expensive  if  it  succeeded,  mistakes 
and  methods  being  worked  out  with  a 
few  vehicles.  Shares  were  taken  up 
gradually  by  the  office  group  and  none 
sold  to  outsiders. 

MOTORBUS  FOUND  FAVOR 
A  COUPLE  of  two-ton  motortruck 
chassis  were  ordered  in  the  United 
States  as  soon  as  they  could  be  bought 
after  the  armistice.  When  these  reached 
Chile,  after  a  considerable  delay,  they 
were  fitted  with  bodies  seating  fifteen 
passengers,  entrance  being  at  the  front 
so  that  the  driver  could  collect  fares  on 
the  pay-as-you-enter  plan,  though  "con- 
ductorettes"  do  that  now.  Then  they 
were  put  into  service  on  a  congested  traf- 
fic route  between  the  principal  plaza  and 
the  central  railroad  station. 

Street-car  service  in  this  part  of  the 
city  was  very  slow,  taking  twenty-five 
to  thirty  minutes,  with  a  ten  centavo 
fare,  or  five  centavos  on  the  upper  deck. 
Trolley  managers  at  home,  worried  by 
the  inelasticity  of  the  nickel,  may  be  in- 
terested in  the  fact  that  ten  centavos 
Chileno  is  equivalent  to  less  than  two 
cents  of  our  money — a  street-car  ride 
in  the  upper  deck  at  the  present  rate  of 
exchange  costs,  in  Santiago  and  Valpa- 
raiso, exactly  0.9  cents! 

It  was  found  that  the  buses  could 
make  the  trip  in  fifteen  minutes.  The 
fare  was  set  at  twTenty  centavos,  which 
is  now  less  than  four  cents,  and  even  if 
Chile  stabilizes  her  currency  at  twenty- 
four  cents  to  the  peso,  cannot  be  equiva- 
lent to  our  nickel.  That  is  what  they 
consider  a  de  luxe  street  ride  in  Chile, 
and  they  make  it  pay  dividends. 

With  the  time  cut  in  half  for  a  dou- 
ble fare,  the  people  of  Santiago  quickly 
took  to  the  motorbuses,  and  they  have 
been  running  steadily  since  the  spring 
of  1919,  nearly  sixteen  hours  every  day. 
Seven  more  buses  have  been  added  to 
the  equipment,  several  other  routes  es- 
tablished and  the  shareholders  have  put 
more  money  into  the  enterprise,  so  thai 
$40,000  worth  of  the  stock  has  been 
taken  up. 

There  are  a  good  many  difficulties 
to  be  overcome,  however. 


CHILE 


127 


Distance  from  the  United  States  is 
one  great  handicap.  The  service  started 
with  solid  tires,  but  these  make  rough 
riding  over  Santiago's  streets — not  very 
well  paved — and  have  been  hard  on 
motors.  After  several  months'  operation 
a  change  to  pneumatic  tires  was  decided 
upon.  It  was  necessary  to  have  new 
wheels.  These  were  ordered  from  the 
United  States  in  August,  and  in  Decem- 
ber had  not  yet  arrived — first  the  fac- 
tory was  behind  in  its  orders  and  then 
the  shipment  was  tied  up  in  a  dock  strike. 
In  the  United  States  such  a  change  could 
have  been  made  in  a  couple  of  weeks. 


and  steps  taken  to  help  those  entering 
the  business  through  information,  special 
types  of  cars  and  in  other  ways. 

The  type  of  motorbus  used  in  Santiago 
costs  about  $4000  when  ready  for  serv- 
ice. The  chassis  is  imported  from  the 
United  States  and  the  body  built  in 
Chile  to  avoid  the  heavy  tariff  duty  on 
a  complete  omnibus.  By  no  stretch  of 
the  imagination  can  the  Santiago  motor- 
bus  bodies  be  called  beautiful,  for  they 
were  a  carpenter-shop  job,  designed  to 
carry  fifteen  to  twenty  persons.  Their 
chief  merit  is  that  they  hold  a  lot  of  fares. 
In  countries  where  the  same  tariff  diffi- 
culties exist,  designs  based  on  American 


car,  as  the  engine  cannot  be  started  on 
it,  but  the  motorbus  engines  are  started 
at  the  garage  and  kept  running  all  day. 
Tires  are  also  costly  in  Chile,  and  with 
fuel  and  mechanical  maintenance  make 
up  the  chief  items  of  expense.  To  offset 
this,  however,  wages  of  drivers  and  ga- 
rage helpers  are  lower  than  in  the  United 
States. 

CAPITAL  A  FERTILE  FIELD 

HpHE  drivers  are  all  Chileans  and  have 
contributed  their  difficulties.  When 
the  Chileno  rides  a  horse  he  goes  at  top 
speed,  and  fear  is  not  part  of  his  tem- 
perament.    When  you  give  him  a  shiny 


MONUMENT    TO    FIREMEN    OF    SANTIAGO    ERECTED    AS    MEMORIAL   OF    LIFE    SAVING 


ONE  PATTERN  WANTED 

T  ACK  of  technical  counsel  is  another 
difficulty.  A  young  motorbus  serv- 
ice started  by  beginners  at  home  would 
have  the  benefit  of  automobile  manufac- 
turers' experience  in  equipment  and  op- 
eration, whereas  distance  makes  it  nec- 
essary that  the  Santiago  promoters  work 
out  all  their  own  methods,  make  mis- 
takes that  might  be  avoided  at  home  and 
develop  the  business  by  hard  knocks.  As 
the  motorbus  business  is  pretty  certain 
to  grow  in  Latin  America  in  the  next 
five  years,  these  difficulties  should  be  stud- 
ied   by    our    automobile    manufacturers 


experience,  for  bodies  built  locally,  would 
be  valuable  in  establishing  motorbus  serv- 
ice. Another  way  of  getting  around  this 
difficulty  would  be  to  import  a  single 
complete  motorbus  and  copy  the  body  in 
equipping  other  chassis. 

It  speaks  well  for  the  sturdiness  of 
American  automobiles  that  every  car  this 
company  owns  is  kept  in  steady  service 
sixteen  hours  a  day,  traveling  from  130 
to  135  miles  daily,  with  the  motors  con- 
stantly running  on  a  low-grade  fuel. 
Gasoline  is  so  expensive  in  Chile  that  a 
mixture  of  75  per  cent  California  dis- 
tillate with  25  per  cent  kerosene  is  used. 
This  would  not  be  feasible  for  a  pleasure 


new  American  motor,  top  speed  some- 
thing like  a  mile  a  minute,  he  will  drive 
as  he  rides,  unless  you  can  control  him. 
Sometimes  he  becomes  so  interested  in 
speeding  that  it  seems  too  bad  to  stop  for 
just  one  old  lady  waving  on  a  corner,  so 
he  doesn't  do  it,  and  that  loses  fares  and 
good  will  for  the  company. 

A  little  American  wrinkle  in  wages 
has  been  found  effective  with  the  driver. 
Formerly  he  was  paid  250  pesos  a  month, 
about  $50  in  our  money,  which  is  con- 
sidered above  average  wages  for  that 
class  of  workers  in  Chile.  But  now  a 
basic  wage  of  200  pesos  a  month  is  paid, 
plus  2   per  cent  of  the  income  of  the 


128 

driver's  motorbus,  a  device  which  has 
been  found  satisfactory  to  everybody  con- 
cerned, increasing  drivers'  wages  and  the 
company's  revenue.  The  same  principle 
will  be  used  to  encourage  careiulness, 
sharing  money  saved  by  drivers  on  fuel 
and  repairs.  Much  of  the  company's 
success  has  been  due  to  first-class  me- 
chanical supervision  by  its  American  ga- 
rage superintendent,  Charles  Young. 

Motorbus  service  is  welcomed  in  most 
Latin-American  cities  because  street-car 
service  is  crowded  and  bad.  In  San- 
tiago, for  example,  the  trolleys  carry 
120,000,000  persons  yearly,  which  is  con- 
sidered high  for  a  city  of  less  than  500,- 
000  population.  Most  of  the  public 
service  companies  are  European  in  capi- 
talization and  management,  and  the  cars 
are  operated  at  "tram"  rather  than  trol- 
ley speeds — and  a  tram  never  was  a 
trolley!  Cars  are  not  merely  old,  but 
in  Santiago  often  dangerously  near  fall- 
ing to  pieces,  and  the  war  has  made 
equipment  inadequate  for  the  needs  of 
cities  that  have  been  growing  steadily.  So 
when  the  quick  motorbus  appears,  run- 
ning without  rails,  on  the  same  routes  as 
the  street  cars,  taking  short  cuts  of  its 
own  and  often  going  where  the  cars  do 
not  run  at  all,  people  welcome  it,  and 
with  good  management  it  quickly  be- 
comes a  tidv  business. 


ARTICLE  LXXVI 

INQUIETUDE  OF  THE  PESO 
A  HANDICAP  TO  CHILE 

CANTIAGO,   Chile,  Jan.  27.— Turn 

to  the  atlas  and  look  at  the  diagram 
showing  the  profile  of  the  Andes. 

Scratch  out  "Profile  of  the  Andes" 
and  write  instead  "Curve  of  the  Chileno 
Peso,  1898-1920"  and  you  will  have  an 
indispensable  document  for  doing  busi- 
ness with  Chile,  whether  it  be  selling, 
buying  or  investment. 

The  Chilean  paper  peso,  familiarly 
known  as  the  "chileno,"  comes  pretty 
near  being  the  most  restless  money  in  the 
world.  Following  your  mountain  profile 
from  left  to  right,  the  high  peaks  rep- 
resent the  years  from  1900  to  1905,  when 
it  was  often  near  its  par  value  of  thirty- 
six  cents  in  our  money,  but  since  then  it 
has  tobogganed  down  onto  the  pampas 
and  stayed  there,  averaging  about  eight- 
een cents,  its  value  at  this  writing. 

When  you  are  selling  goods  to  a  Chil- 
ean customer,  it  works  this  way: 

If  the  shipment  reached  Valparaiso  in 
June,  1918,  and  was  valued  at  $1000, 
your  customer  could  have  bought  a  draft 
in  that  amount  for  roundly  3000  pesos. 
By  June,  1919,  he  would  have  had  to 
pay  4700  pesos  and  today  5400. 

If  you  are  buying  Chilean  wool  or  cop- 
per, turning  the  dollar  into  the  peso  in- 
volves the  same  fluctuations. 


CHILE 

When  it  comes  to  investment,  the  in- 
quietude of  the  peso  has  undoubtedly 
kept  Chile  on  short  rations  of  foreign 
capital  the  last  twenty  years.  For  if  you 
had  $10,000  and  went  to  Chile  when  the 
peso  was  feeling  well  and  turned  your 
money  into  30,000  "chilenos,"  and  dou- 
bled it  by  honest  effort  and  turned  your 
profits  back  into  dollars  when  the  peso 
was  sick,  you  might  have  exactly  the 
$10,000  with  which  you  started.  And, 
of  course,  such  fluctuations  would  affect 
profits  and  dividends  if  you  invested  in 
the  stock  of  a  Chilean  enterprise  and 
stayed  home. 

THE  PESO  IN  POLITICS 

CELLING  a  bill  of  goods  to  the  Chile- 
ans may  involve  a  side  transaction  in 
exchange  at  their  end.  When  you  quote 
them  a  price  of,  say,  $1000  for  an  auto- 
mobile delivered  in  Valparaiso  three 
months  hence,  they  will  go  into  the  stock 
exchange  and  buy  that  sum  in  Chilean  ex- 
change for  delivery  when  the  automobile 
arrives.  Otherwise  all  the  profit  to  be 
made  by  selling  the  car  to  a  customer 
may  have  disappeared — though  there  is 
also  the  possibility  that  it  may  have  dou- 
bled !  With  exchange  fluctuating  as 
much  as  ten  points  in  a  single  day,  it  is 
easy  to  understand  why  speculation  in  the 
"chileno"  is  the  biggest  item  of  business 
on  the  Santiago  stock  exchange. 

Chile  is  a  sound  country  at  bottom, 
with  great  wealth  in  nitrates,  a  large 
gold  reserve,  and  has  always  been  honest 
in  paying  her  debts.  But  for  one  reason 
or  another  during  the  last  forty  years 
she  has  postponed  the  job  of  providing 
herself  with  sound  money.  Back  in  the 
seventies  began  a  series  of  crop  failures, 
panics  and  other  business  troubles,  in- 
cluding a  war  and  a  revolution,  which  led 
to  the  repeated  issue  of  paper  money.  At 
the  same  time  Chile  promised  herself  to 
be  thrifty,  and  save  gold  out  of  her  reve- 
nue, and  take  up  this  fiat  currency,  and 
several  times  got  a  nest  egg  together  to 
make  a  start  in  conversion,  while  the 
Chilean  Congress  drafted  conversion 
laws  and  discussed  them.  But  something 
always  has  happened  to  postpone  conver- 
sion. Congress  is  still  just  upon  the  verge 
of  passing  a  law  which  will  peg  the  peso 
within  the  narrow  margin  of  gold  points 
— around  twenty-five  cents  in  our  money 
— and  consequently  everybody  in  Chile 
with  money,  goods  or  credit  is  speculat- 
ing on  what  he  thinks  will  happen  to 
exchange. 

This  is  not  a  matter  of  dry  banking 
technique.  It  involves  the  everyday  wel- 
fare of  many  Chileans,  besides  being  a 


heated  political  question.  Moreover,  it 
is  important  in  the  new  basis  upon  which 
we  are  selling  goods  to  the  Chileans. 

Most  of  the  things  Chile  sells  to  other 
countries,  such  as  nitrate,  copper,  wool 
and  wheat,  are  produced  by  big  corpora- 
tions and  landowners.  When  they  make 
a  sale  they  are  paid  in  the  stable  cur- 
rency of  other  countries.  Then  they  turn 
around  and  buy  unstable  Chilean  pesos 
for  the  payroll,  shrewdly  choosing  the 
time  when  the  pesos  are  cheapest.  This 
cuts  their  labor  costs,  and  also  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  the  wages  paid  the 
hard-working  Chilean  "roto,"  or  peas- 
ant. It  is  also  an  advantage  in  paying 
mortgage  interest  and  money,  and  an  ad- 
vantage to  the  merchant  who,  through 
fluctuations  in  exchange,  may  get  goods 
cheap.  For  instance,  some  American  ar- 
ticles are  cheaper  just  now  in  Santiago 
than  in  New  York,  because  they  were 
stocked  six  months  ago  when  4.7  pesos 
would  buy  one  of  our  dollars,  and  now 
5.4  pesos  are  needed. 

STABILIZATION  BLOCKED 

TT  IS  firmly  believed  by  the  Chilean 
working  classes  that  the  landowning 
and  moneyed  interests  of  the  country 
have  blocked  conversion  by  political 
means  to  retain  these  advantages.  There 
is  probably  a  basis  for  that  belief,  al- 
though students  of  the  subject  say  that 
there  are  other  causes.  For  years  the 
government  has  had  the  actual  gold  laid 
by  in  a  fund  to  effect  conversion,  but  a 
law  has  been  lacking,  and  every  time  the 
question  has  been  brought  up  in  Congress, 
seemingH  something  has  happened.  In 
one  case  it  was  fear  of  war  with  Argen- 
tina, in  another  the  Valparaiso  earth- 
quake, and  in  still  others  the  rapid 
changes  in  governments  or  cabinets.  One 
of  the  most  promising  plans  was  stopped 
by  the  war,  which  found  most  of  Chile's 
conversion  fund  deposited  in  German 
banks.  There  was  fear  for  its  safety,  but 
it  was  rescued  through  transfers  abroad 
of  German  assets.  Then  the  Chilenos 
sat  down  to  wait  until  the  end  of  the  war 
to  do  the  conversion  job  right. 

Since  the  armistice,  however,  Presi- 
dent Sanfuentes  has  been  trying  to  form 
a  cabinet  which  will  command  support 
from  Congress.  This  is  difficult,  because 
Chile  has  many  political  parties,  each 
represented  in  Congress,  and  to  form  a 
cabinet  upon  which  sufficient  of  the  par- 
ties will  unite  is  a  baffling  task — minis- 
tries have  been  arranged  again  and  again 
the  last  year,  only  to  change  on  account 
of  the  politics,  or  even  the  utterances,  of 
one  man.  Finally,  in  November  every- 
body agreed  to  let  the  president  appoint 
a  cabinet  of  men  inactive  in  politics,  to 
serve  until  some  definite  political  trend 
develops,  and  a  currency  bill  is  now  be- 
fore Congress.  Briefly,  it  provides  a 
central  bank,  which  will  take  up  the 
paper   fiat   money   and    replace    it   with 


CHILE 


129 


gold-secured  currency,  maintain  a  flexible 
currency  to  meet  emergencies,  and  do 
some  commercial  banking  to  support  it- 
self. The  paper  peso  will  probably  be 
taken  up  with  a  fixed  amount  of  gold, 
equivalent  to  about  twenty-four  cents  in 
our  currency. 

For  many  years  most  of  Chile's  import 
and  export  trade  has  been  handled  by  a 
few  large  houses,  who  are  bankers  as 
well  as  merchants,  and  balanced  their  do- 
mestic and  foreign 
operations  so  that 
fluctuations  of  ex- 
change were  not  a 
serious  problem. 
When  Germany 
began  to  compete 
for  Chilean  trade 
she  often  sold  di- 
rect to  the  cus- 
tomers of  these 
houses,  and  later 
the  United  States 
began  selling  di- 
rect. This  direct 
selling  and  the 
establishment  o  f 
branch  houses  en- 
courage a  larger 
volume  of  trade 
for  the  seller  and 
a  wider  assortment 
of  goods  for  the 
buyer.  It  is  great- 
ly handicapped  by 
fluctuations  in  ex- 
change, however, 
and  stability  in  the 
Chilean  currency 
therefore  means 
wider  selling  op- 
portunities in  that 
country. 

It  will  also  lead 
to  heavy  invest- 
ments of  Amer- 
ican and  other  out- 
side capital  in 
Chile,  investigators 
predict,  especially 
in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  re- 
sources of  the  rich 
southern  provinces, 
and  the  establish- 
ment of  manufac- 
turing industries  tra 
with   the  country's 

coal,  iron,  wool  and  other  materials. 
Such  industries  will,  in  turn,  give  em- 
ployment to  the  people,  and  raise  wages 
and  the  standard  of  life. 


for  the  best  design  for  a  locomotive  shop 
to  be  used  by  the  government  railways — 
in  Chile  65  per  cent  of  the  railways  are 
owned  and  operated  by  the  government. 

Many  designs  were  entered — from 
England,  Germany,  France  and  the 
United  States. 

Today  the  locomotive  shop  is  finished 
— at  San  Bernado,  ten  miles  outside  of 
Santiago.  It  is  a  typical  Yankee  job, 
with  saw-tooth   roofs  on   the  buildings, 


ARTICLE  LXXVII 

SOME  PECULIARITIES 
AND  NEEDS  OF  CHILE 

CANTIAGO,  Chile,  Jan.  29.— A  prize 
°  of  $25,000  was  offered  by  the  Chilean 
Government  some  time  before  the  war 


XSPORTATION  IS  ONE   OP   CHILE'S    CHIEF  NEEDS 

Yankee  machine  tools  and  Yankee  cranes 
big  enough  to  pick  up  a  Yankee  locomo- 
tive. The  job  was  done  during  the  war 
by  Yankee  engineers.  Two  of  them, 
from  Philadelphia,  were  finishing  up  the 
last  loose  ends  when  the  writer  visited 
the  plant  in  December — Messrs.  Clarke 
and  Firmin,  of  the  technical  staff  of  the 
Niles-Bement-Pond  Co.,  New  York, 
prize  winners. 

The  American  design  won  the  prize 


and  landed  this  contract  on  two  charac- 
teristic American  points — production  ca- 
pacity and  economy  of  space.  To  these 
might  be  added  the  point  of  vision,  be- 
cause the  shops  are  laid  out  with  a  view 
to  growth,  as  Chile  carries  out  her  far- 
sighted  plans  for  railways  and  ports.  An 
enormous  tract  of  land  has  been  inclosed 
by  the  heavy  brick  wall,  which  is  the 
factory  fence  in  Chile,  a  tract  so  large 
that  the  buildings  seem  lost  upon  it, 
though  Mr. 
Clarke  believes  that 
the  main  shop  is 
the  largest  con- 
crete building  in 
the  world.  On  the 
remaining  land 
will  be  built  shops 
for  building  cars 
and  also  locomo- 
tives, planned  in 
the  original  design 
—  the  present 
buildings  are 
equipped  chiefly  for 
repair  work. 

Senor  Carlos 
Castro  Ruiz,  of  the 
railroad  ministry, 
was  immensely 
proud  of  the  job, 
and  said  this  was 
the  most  interest- 
ing thing  to  see 
just  then,  because 
the  Chilean  state 
railways,  like  those 
of  other  Latin- 
American  coun- 
tries, have  come 
through  the  war 
short  of  every- 
thing, from  rolling 
stock  to  money. 
Senor  Ruiz  was 
recently  consul 
general  for  Chile 
in  New  York,  and 
his  transfer  to  the 
Ministerio  de  Fer- 
rocarriles  reflects 
the  new  spirit 
which  is  building 
Chilean  transpor- 
tation up  to  conti- 
nental standards. 
Already  this  is  in 
evidence  when  one 
leaves  the  toy  cars  of  the  trans-Andean 
line  and  steps  into  the  big,  heavy,  roomy 
American  day  coach  built  in  the  United 
States,  and  is  whirled  away  to  Santiago 
or  Valparaiso  by  an  American  locomo- 
tive. 

Building  a  locomotive  shop  during  a 
world  war  is  no  easy  job.  The  original 
plans  called  for  steel  construction,  but 
the  steel  was  unobtainable,  and  rein- 
forced concrete  had    to   be   substituted. 


130 


CHILE 


Difficulties  with 
shipments  of  ma- 
chinery, particular- 
ly electrical 
apparatus,  leads 
Mr.  Clarke  to  sug- 
gest that  American 
manufacturers  im- 
prove their  pack- 
ing methods,  and, 
in  some  cases,  their 
design,  to  meet  sea 
conditions.  Copper 
and  brass  parts 
were  often  cor- 
roded by  moisture 
and  salt  air  on  ar- 
rival, and  might 
be  made  of  noncor- 
roding  alloys. 
Fiber  and  rawhide 
parts  suffered  the  same  damage.  Ma- 
chinery shipments  were  securely  boxed, 
but  in  many  cases  boards  had  been 
broken  from  the  cases  to  be  used  for 
flooring  in  ships'  holds,  exposing  ma- 
chinery to  moisture  and  damage.  Wire 
or  iron  bands  around  boxes  would  pre- 
vent this. 

A  PHILADELPHIA  concern  (we 
will  call  it  the  Brown  Novelty  and 
Manufacturing  Co.),  entering  Chile 
some  years  ago,  found  that  a  small  retail 
merchant  had  registered  its  trademark, 
expecting  to  sell  out  to  the  owners.  The 
matter  was  referred  to  a  New  York 
lawyer.  He  got  in  touch  with  a  lawyer 
in — Brazil !  The  latter  took  it  up  with 
an  abogado  in  Chile.  Threats  of  prose- 
cution failing,  the  company  sent  a  rep- 
resentative to  Santiago.  Seeing  that  he 
had  little  hope  of  obtaining  money,  the 
merchant  surrendered  the  trademark  on 
condition  that  he  be  sold  goods.  Then 
the  representative  did  a  commendable  job 
of  business  protection.  It  costs  only 
thirteen  pesos  to  register  a  trademark  in 
Chile — less  than  $2.50.  Only  the  com- 
pany's trademark  was  protected.  Any- 
body was  free  to  register  its  company 
name  in  the  same  way  and  use  it,  or  a 
name  resembling  it,  like  "Brown  Nov- 
elty Co.,"  or  the  names  of  its  different 
products.  So  he  spent  more  than  $100 
registering  the  company's  name  and 
name  combinations  that  could  be  made  to 
look  like  it,  such  as: 

Brown  Novelty  Manufacturing  Co. 

Brown  Novelty  Co. 

Brown  Manufacturing  Co, 
Names  of  individual  products  were  reg- 
istered as  well,  and  the  large  business 
since  built  up  in  Chile  by  this  concern 
has  been  well  protected  against  imita- 
tions and  infringements. 
*     *     * 

VXTHILE    the    Latin    Americans    talk 

hopefully    about    getting    Yankee 

capital,  quite  a  little  Swedish  money  is 

being  quietly  put  into  enterprises  on  the 


OSARRO   VOLCANO   AS    SEEN   ACROSS    ONE   OF  THE    CHILEAN   GREAT    LAKES 


southern  continent.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  is  a  paper  mill  to  be  located 
in  Chile's  southern  forest  country.  Chil- 
ean publishers  are  today  paying  $180  a 
ton  for  American  newsprint,  of  which 
one-quarter  represents  ocean  freight. 
They  have  joined  hands  with  Swedish 
paper  men,  acquired  40,000  acres  of  for- 
est-bearing araucaria  trees,  which  make 
excellent  pulp,  and  it  is  estimated  that 
paper  can  be  made  for  about  $35  a  ton 
and  delivered  in  Santiago  for  $15  more. 
As  the  forest  trees  are  cut  off  they  will 
be  replaced  with  a  quicker-growing  va- 
riety— the  araucaria  requires  a  couple  of 
centuries  to  reach  maturity.  With  a 
short  motortruck  haul,  paper  can  be 
shipped  from  the  mill  by  rail  to  Argen- 
tina and  east  coast  cities.  It  is  not  un- 
likely that  the  Chileans  may  one  day  sell 
us  print  paper. 

DECAUSE  Chile's  currency  fluctuates 
greatly  in  value,  the  practice  has 
grown  up  of  leaving  merchandise  in  the 
customs  house  until  exchange  takes  a 
favorable  turn.  A  draft  on  New  York 
to  pay  for  $1000  worth  of  our  goods 
might  cost  5000  pesos  today,  but  maybe 
only  4000  a  few  weeks  hence.  The  cus- 
toms house  has  been  used  as  a  storage, 
and  banks  in  Chile  have  facilitated  this 
practice  by  allowing  importers  to  post- 
pone the  payment  of  drafts.  British  and 
other  concerns  doing  a  large  trade  with 
Chile  thoroughly  understand  this  cus- 
tom and  adjust  their  terms  accordingly. 
Demand  for  prompt  payment  has  often 
led  to  the  refusal  of  goods  by  purchasers 
during  a  period  of  high  exchange.  Re- 
cently new  customs  regulations  have  been 
made  shortening  the  period  during  which 
certain  classes  of  merchandise  can  be  held 
in  customs. 

Chile  has  no  advertising  agencies,  as 
we  know  them.  But  she  has  some  enter- 
prising newspaper  publishers,  and  they 
take  considerable  pains  in  helping  adver- 
tisers with  copy,  illustrations  and  sug- 
gestions, as  well  as  giving  announcements 


good  position  next 
to  reading  matter, 
an  arrangement 
that  is  just  begin- 
ning to  be  adopted 
in  Latin-American 
newspapers.  No 
Chilean  newspaper 
seems  ever  to  print 
news  on  its  first 
page,  but  neither  is 
the  first  page  given 
up  to  advertising 
as  in  Argentina 
and  Brazil.  The 
news  is  almost  con- 
cealed in  the  body 
of  the  paper,  with 
little  attention  to 
headlines  or  dis- 
play. The  first 
page  is  occupied  by  general  articles  and 
pictures,  something  like  our  "Sunday 
stuff,"  which  publishers  say  is  so  popular 
with  readers  that  they  give  it  the  great- 
est prominence.  Newspapers  sell  for  only 
ten  centavos  or  0.9  cent.  Great  interest 
in  American  methods  of  advertising,  cir- 
culation and  printing  is  being  taken  by 
Chilean  publishers,  and  Senor  Alberto 
Zavala,  general  manager  of  Santiago's 
youngest  newspaper,  La  Nacion,  who  has 
adopted  many  of  our  methods  at  a  dis- 
tance, as  a  reader  of  American  trade 
journals,  proposes  to  spend  four  months 
in  the  United  States  this  year  making  a 
systematic  study  at  close  range. 
*     *     # 

TN  NO  other  Latin-American  country 
are  people's  names  more  puzzling  to 
the  stranger  than  in  Chile.  For  even 
business  cards  often  follow  the  custom  of 
using  the  mother's  name  as  well  as  the 
father's,  and  always  last.  Thus  Enrique 
Carlos  Orellana  Ramirez  would  be 
called  "Ramirez"  by  us,  but  a  Chilean 
would  know  that  his  real  name  was  Orel- 
lana. Americans  always  speak  of  Blasco 
Ibanez,  the  Spanish  novelist,  as  "Ibanez," 
but  Latins  all  know  that  his  name  is 
Blasco.  In  some  cases  things  are  sim- 
plified for  the  stranger  by  the  use  of  "y" 
between  the  two  names,  as  Orellana  y 
Ramirez — "y"  means  "and"  in  Spanish. 
It  is  a  common  custom  in  Chile  to  use 
the  initial  of  the  mother's  name  only,  as 
"Enrique  Carlos  Orellana  R."  Every- 
body knows  what  the  "R"  stands  for. 
This  use  of  the  mother's  name  in  all  the 
Latin-American  countries  is  necessary  be- 
cause families  are  very  large  and  original 
settlers  have  left  so  many  descendants. 
With  perhaps  1000  members  of  the 
Blasco  family  in  Chile,  say,  there  would 
probably  be  a  couple  of  dozen  Enrique 
Blascos,  causing  constant  confusion.  But 
by  using  the  mother's  name  as  well,  du- 
plication is  avoided  and  everybody  knows 
who's  who — except  the  stranger,  who 
has  to  learn  the  rules  of  the  game. 


CHILE 


131 


/^HILE    seems   to    be   virtually    alone 
among  the  Latin-American  countries 
in   having   no   national    lottery,    though 
Panama  prohibited  gambling  in  her  con- 
stitution, and  then,  it  is  said,  let  a  lot- 
tery  concession   to   a   private   company. 
Chile's  laws  make  it  illegal  to  sell  lot- 
tery tickets,  but  actually  great  numbers 
are  sold  yearly  in  the  country,  and  it  is 
estimated    that    as   much    as   3,000,000 
pesos  are  spent  on  the  national  lotter- 
ies of  Argentina   and   other   neighbors. 
The  sum  is  large  enough  to  suggest  to 
legislators  that  a  national  lottery  be  es- 
tablished, the  money  kept  home,  and  reve- 
nue be  raised  for  the  government,  and 
recently  a  discussion  on  this  subject  was 
held  in  the  Senate.     But  sentiment  in 
Congress  and  the  press  opposed  it.  Chile's 
good  sense  in  this  matter  may  really  be 
leadership,  and  ultimately  aid  in  doing 
away  with  lotteries  in  other  countries. 
Many  persons  deny  that  the  institution 
does  harm,  and  certainly  it  is  petty  gam- 
bling  compared   with   our  own    riotous 
speculation   in  stocks,  foodstuffs,  goods, 
land  and  other  convenient  counters.     It 
is  held  to  be  a  safety  valve  for  the  Latin 
temperament,    and,    rather  curiously,    in 
little  Uruguay,  where  only  half  a  dozen 
local  stocks  and  bonds  are  traded  in  upon 
the  stock  exchange,  official  roulette,  run 
by    the    government,    brings    in    several 
thousand  dollars  revenue  monthly.     But 
other  students  of  the  subject  maintain 
that  the  lotteries,  thinly  disguised  as  reve- 
nue measures  for  the  governments,  work 
real  economic  harm.     The  same  amount 
of  interest  and  effort  put  behind  savings 
banks,  building  societies  and  mortgage  in- 
stitutions   to    help 
people      acquire 
small  farms  would 
bring     more 
revenue  to  the  gov- 
ernments   indi- 
rectly. 

*      *      # 

GEVERAL  good 
American  hotels 
are  needed  in 
Chile.  In  fact, 
there  is  room  for  a 
consecutive  chain 
of  them  right 
around  the  south- 
ern continent,  be- 
ginning perhaps 
with  Rio  de  Ja- 
n  e  i  r  o  and  Sao 
Paulo,  going  on  to 
Montevideo,  Bue- 
nos Aires  and 
Mendoza,  and 
then  crossing  to 
Santiago,  Val- 
paraiso and  up  the 
west    coast    to 


Panama.     Santiago    has   only   one    good 
hotel  and  one  passable  restaurant.    It  is 
an   oddly   placed   city  at  first  sight,  four 
hours'  journey   from  the   sea,   the   gov- 
ernment   and    intellectual    center,    but 
separated    from   many   of   the   basic   in- 
dustries   by    which    Chile    lives.     The 
Conquistador  Valdivia  planted   it  there 
with  a  fort  in  1541  to  resist  the  Indians. 
However,  with  a  port  nearer  at  hand,  in 
San  Antonio,  and  more  railroads  across 
the   Andes,    and    increased   travel   from 
Argentina  and  Bolivia  as  well    as   from 
the  United  States,  it  should  be  a  good 
hotel  town,  as  would  Valparaiso,  no  bet- 
ter served  today  in  this  respect.      The 
southern   countries  need   modern,   well- 
managed  hotels  to  make  them  more  at- 
tractive to  tourists  and  hold  their  own 
in  competition  with  Europe  when  travel 
decisions  are  made.    They  need  them  for 
the  convenience  of  business  men  and  for 
their  own  greater  comfort.    Most  of  all, 
they  need  them  as  the  play  places  for  seri- 
ous grown-ups  that  good  hotels  always 
become.    The  Latin  Americans'  delight 
with  our  hotels  and  cabarets  is  under- 
stood when  one  sees  them  at  home  in  a 
city  like  Santiago,   where   the   Plaza  is 
virtually   the   only   meeting   place,    and 
expensive  cars  are  parked  around  it  while 
the  people  listen  to  a  band.     There  is 
no  other  place  where  people  can  meet, 
and  none  where  they  may  dance  infor- 
mally or  entertain  each  other  under  the 
bright  lights,  catching  gayety  from  the 
crowd.   When  cities  like  Santiago  really 
begin   to  play   this  game   there  will  be 
good  profits  for  the  hotel  man. 


LAKE    OF   ALL    SAINTS    IN   HEART    OF    CHILEAN   SWITZERLAND 


ARTICLE  LXXVIII 

VALPARAISO,  IMPORTANT 
CITY,  THREE  STREETS  WIDE 

yALPARAISO,  Chile,  Jan.  31.— 
This  is  a  city  built  upon  a  shelf. 
Foothills  come  down  almost  to  tide  line, 
and  along  the  narrow  strip  of  level 
ground  between  run  three  narrow 
business  streets,  in  which  Valparaiso  con- 
ducts the  affairs  of  a  port  that  stands 
next  to  San  Francisco  on  the  west  coast. 
By  building  a  sea  wall  some  distance 
from  shore,  and  filling  in,  a  valuable 
strip  of  new  land  is  being  made.  Little 
of  it  will  be  available  for  business  build- 
ings, however.  Valparaiso  will  do  well 
to  utilize  some  of  it  for  a  park.  As  the 
city  is  growing  rapidly,  after  the  war, 
business  quarters  are  crowded  and  va- 
cant space  virtually  unobtainable. 

Clearly,  Valparaiso  must  grow.  The 
hills  are  too  big  to  push  back.  To  grow 
into  the  air  seems  most  logical,  and  the 
Yankee  immediately  suggests  skyscrap- 
ers. 

"But  the  earthquakes,"  exclaims  the 
Chilean.  Valparaiso  was  destroyed  in 
1906,  the  same  year  as  San  Francisco. 
"Besides  there  is  the  law  limiting  the 
height  of  buildings." 

Which  suggests  a  little  educational 
work  on  behalf  of  our  skyscrapers,  which, 
far  from  being  dangerous  in  earthquake 
regions,  are  among  the  safest  kinds  of 
buildings. 

Two  kinds  of  construction  seem  safe 
in  earthquake  countries.  One  is  the 
Jap's  paper  house,  which  falls  down 
without  hurting  anybody  and  can  be  set 
up  again  like  stage  scenery.  The  other 
is  that  type  of 
building  which 
cannot  be  shaken 
to  pieces,  like  ma- 
sonry. Sometimes 
it  is  a  frame  house 
that  rocks  but 
holds  together, 
again  a  re-enforced 
concrete  structure, 
and  yet  again  ar 
American  steel  sky 
scraper.  An  earth- 
quake would  shake 
down  a  child's 
house  of  blocks,  but 
it  couldn't  shake  a 
basket  to  pieces. 
This  latter  kind 
of  buildings  arc 
virtually  baskets, 
and  the  steel  sky- 
scraper demon- 
strated in  San 
Francisco  that  it 
is  about  the  best 
basket  weave  of 
them  all.  Construc- 
tion men  maintain 


132 


CHILE 


that  with  a  special  kind  of  floor  arche* 
and  the  outer  walls  securely  tied  to  the 
steel  frame  it  would  be  a  refuge  of  safety 
in  earthquakes. 

IMPROVING  THE  PORT 

[  IKE  virtually  all  cities  built  by  the 
Spaniards  in  the  temperate  zone  of 
South  America,  Valparaiso  has  very  nar- 
row streets.  These  were  laid  out,  as  in 
Spain,  to  afford  shade  in  hot  weather. 
But  the  town  has  hardly  any  hot 
weather,  though  it  possesses  an  ocean 
resort,  crowded  in  summer,  where  peo- 
ple bathe  and  shiver  in  the  chilly  Hum- 
boldt current.  To  widen  its  streets 
there  is  a  law  that  sets  the  building  line 
five  feet  back  whenever  an  old  structure 
is  torn  down  and  a  new  one  erected. 
Property  owners  evade  this  law  by  "re- 
pairing" old  buildings.  So  long  as  any 
remnant  of  the  old  building  remains, 
apparently  the  law  is  satisfied.  If  the 
city  fathers  "shaved"  all  building  fronts 
five  feet,  as  was  done  with  Fifth  ave- 
nue in  New  York,  Valparaiso  would 
probably  be  delighted  with  the  result,  and 
realize  that  they  had  been  deceiving 
themselves  with  their  evasive  repairs. 

Valparaiso  needs  a  brand-new  outfit 
of  street  cars,  like  Santiago.  The  pres- 
ent equipment  is  of  great  antiquity.  The 
man  power  exerted  by  motormen  daily 
on  the  old  handbrakes  would,  if  con- 
served, probably  light  the  town.  "Con- 
ductorettes"  of  mature  years  take  tickets 
on  some  of  the  cars — they  are  called 
"Senoritas."  The  tram  companies  in 
both  Valparaiso  and  Santiago  were  Ger- 
man in  origin  and  management,  but  the 
Chileans  themselves  are  acquiring  con- 
trol. 

The  greatest  need  of  the  city,  how- 
ever, is  one  that  is  being  tackled  first — 
to  inclose  the  harbor  with  a  breakwater, 
line  it  with  a  sea  wall  and  docks  at 
which  ships  can  tie  up  for  loading  and 
unloading,  and  increase  port  facilities 
by  both  volume  and  speed. 

The  first  sight  of  Valparaiso's  water 
front  would  be  immensely  instructive  to 
every  American  shipping  clerk.  For  ships 
anchor  a  considerable  distance  from 
shore  and  unload  in  lighters.  If  the 
weather  is  rough  the  lighter  may  surge 
up  and  meet  the  descending  case  con- 
taining your  shipment  of  dynamos,  crock- 
ery or  ladies'  hats,  and  there  is  a  smash- 
ing bump.  That  sort  of  thing  goes  on 
all  up  and  down  the  west  coast,  and  has 
often  been  described.  But  seeing  is  be- 
lieving and  gives  a  wholly  new  concep- 
tion of  export  packing.  The  lighters  are 
unloaded  by  steam  cranes  right  along 
the  rock  and  earth  of  the  shore,  with 
crude  copper  ingots,  silk  goods,  bags  of 
tallow,  haberdashery  and  bales  of  wool 
all  piled  together  for  lack  of  space. 


SEVEN  YEARS  ON  WORKS 

DASSENGERS  go  from  ship  to  shore 
.  in  rowboats  manned  by  boatmen 
whose  political  influence  is  said  to  be  so 
strong  that  all  efforts  of  steamship  com- 
panies to  haul  people  and  baggage  in 
comfortable  launches  have  thus  far  failed. 
On  occasions  when  it  has  been  tried  thest; 
launches  have  been  accidentally  run  into 
or  mysteriously  damaged. 

Harbor  works  for  this  port  involve 
difficult  construction.  An  English  com- 
pany has  the  contract,  which  was  to  be 
completed  in  six  years.  It  has  b-M  on 
the  job  seven  years  to  date,  and  is  still 
a  long  way  from  the  finish.  The  outer 
breakwate)  calls  for  a  "fill"  of  nearly 
two  hundred  feet.  The  bottom  is  mad 
resting  on  hard  clay.  Skeptics  main- 
tain that  even  when  finished  it  will  prob- 
ably not  last  in  a  heavy  storm.  Once 
every  generation  such  a  storm  as  that  of 
July,  1919,  sweeps  in,  with  the  weight  of 
the  whole  Pacific  ocean — which  Charles 
Darwin  declared  was  misnamed.  A  long 
stretch  of  the  inner  harbor  wall  in  com- 
paratively shallow  water  had  been  com- 
pleted last  July,  but  not  re-enforced  with 
earth  and  rock  inside  to  resist  a  possible 
storm.  Engineers  maintain  that  it  was 
strong  enough  without  re-enforcement. 
But  the  Pacific  ocean  threw  it  over  and 
dashed  huge  blocks  of  masonry  about  like 
cigar  boxes.  Three  German  ships  riding 
at  old  moorings  in  the  harbor  broke 
away,  did  damage  to  other  vessels  and 
were  swept  right  up  on  the  rocky  shore, 
where  they  still  lie  today  to  show  what 
the  Unpacific  ocean  can  do  in  a  rage. 

In  taking  ship  for  Peru,  the  traveler 
hears  an  echo  of  the  war  between  that 
country  and  Chile  forty  years  ago.  For 
the  two  countries  have  not  exchanged 
ambassadors  or  consuls  since  then.  Chile 
got  nitrate  provinces  and  ports  from 
Peru  after  her  victory.  One  province, 
Tacna,  was  by  treaty  to  be  occupied  for 
ten  years,  from  1884  to  1894,  and  then 
a  vote  of  its  people  taken  to  see  to  which 
country  they  wished  to  belong.  No  form 
of  plebiscite  satisfactory  to  both  coun- 
tries has  yet  been  devised,  and  so  Tacna 
remains  in  Chilean  possession. 
NATION  HONEST  DEBTOR 
'"pHERE  is  an  American  Chamber  of 
Commerce  in  Valparaiso,  organized 
in  December,  1918,  with  a  business  office 


that  was  opened  last  March  in  charge  of 
Secretary  Edwin  C.  Schmidt.  It  has 
eighteen  members  at  present,  American 
concerns  in  Chile  engaged  in  trading, 
purchasing,  banking  and  mining.  There 
are  thirty-seven  other  American  concerns 
in  Chile  eligible  for  active  membership. 
As  soon  as  arrangements  can  be  made 
this  organization  will  seek  associate  or 
"subscribing"  members  in  the  United 
States,  among  business  houses  with  in- 
terests in  Chile.  As  with  other  Ameri- 
can chambers  of  commerce  in  Latin 
America,  both  financial  support  and  in- 
telligent teamwork  are  needed  from  busi- 
ness men  in  the  United  States.  The  in- 
itiation fee  for  a  subscribing  member  is 
only  fifty  Chilean  pesos,  with  fifty  pesos 
annual  dues.  Fifty  pesos  Chileno  is  less 
than  $9  in  our  money  at  the  present  ex- 
change. There  is  also  an  American  So- 
ciety in  Chile,  with  branches  in  both 
Valparaiso  and  Santiago.  In  the  port 
city  members — all  men — meet  at  lunch 
once  a  week  and  maintain  contact  with 
each  other,  while  in  Santiago  a  lunch 
occurs  every  two  weeks. 

It  was  in  Valparaiso  that  an  Ameri- 
can long  resident  in  Chile  told  the  writer 
a  story  that  might  have  been  embodied 
in  an  earlier  article  dealing  with  the  re- 
public's finances  and  credit: 

Chileans  have  always  been  most  scru- 
pulous in  meeting  the  interest  on  their 
national  debt.  During  the  troubled 
times  in  the  early  nineties  when  two 
political  elements  came  to  open  warfare 
for  control  of  the  government — Chile's 
only  actual  revolution  since  the  period 
when  the  original  republic  was  being 
formed — there  was  an  interest  payment 
on  the  national  debt  coming  due  in  Lon- 
don. And  a  double  payment  was  made 
upon  it,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  Lon- 
don bankers.  For  each  of  the  fighting 
factions,  thinking  that  the  other  might 
neglect  or  overlook  it,  made  the  payment 
itself,  for  the  sake  of  Chile's  credit  and 
national  honor. 


ARTICLE  LXXIX 

NITRATE  TRADE  AWAITS 
YANKEES  OR  BRITISH 

yALPARAISO,  Chile,  Feb.  2.— After 
he  had  invented  the  art  of  war  re- 
porting and  followed  all  the  big  and  lit- 
tle wars  through  the  seventies  and 
eighties,  it  is  said  that  Archibald  Forbes 
went  to  Chile  expressly  to  see  where  the 
wars  really  came  from — out  of  the  ni 
trate  beds  which  furnish  a  product  in- 
dispensable in  both  war  and  peace. 

When  the  world  goes  mad  Chilean  ni- 
trates make  explosives  and  the  price  and 
production  both  rise,  with  boom  times 
in  the  nitrate  regions  of  the  north.  When 
the  world  cools  down  again  price  and 
production  fall  off,  but  Chileans  resume 
their  steady  campaign  to  increase  the 
use  of   nitrates  in   agriculture  industry 


CHILE 


133 


all  over  the  world.  Which  is  really  the 
most  important  end  of  this  double-bar- 
reled industry. 

Chile  has  the  only  commercially  work- 
able deposits  in  the  world.  Nobody 
knows  how  the  nitrates  got  into  Chile's 
"pampa  saltierra."  Some  authorities  at- 
tribute them  to  guano  deposits  by  birds, 
others  to  the  evaporation  of  an  ocean, 
and  one  daring  hypothesis  involves  light- 
ning in  the  Andes,  with  nature  antici- 
pating man  in  making  nitrates  by  elec- 
tricity. They  are  there,  and  that  is  all, 
and  are  Chile's  largest  source  of  revenue, 
with  enough  in  sight  to  last  for  a  cen- 
tury at  the  present  rate  of  production, 
and  thirty  times  as  much  unexplored 
ground  likely  to  yield  future  supplies. 

So  the  prosperity  of  the  industry  is 
really  an  advertising  and  selling  prob- 
lem. 

On  the  walls  of  the  nitrate  associa- 
tion's offices  in  Santiago  hang  some  beau- 
tifully made  plaster  turnips  and  cab- 
bages. There  is  a  small  turnip  raised 
without  fertilizer,  contrasted  with  an 
enormous  one  to  show  what  plants  will 
do  if  you  feed  them  chemicals.  These 
plaster  vegetables  were  made  in  Ger- 
many to  promote  sales  of  German  pot- 
ash, but  they  are  just  as  vivid  an  argu- 
ment for  Chilean  nitrate,  which  is  needed 
too. 

CHILD  OF  PROPAGANDA 

HpHE  German  potash  propaganda  was 
so  systematic  and  vigorous  before 
the  war  that  when  the  chemical  became 
scarce  the  American  truck  farmer,  cot- 
ton planter  and  fruit  grower  wondered 
what  they  would  do  for  crop  foods.  It 
was  predicted  that  one  or  two  more  crops 
would  exhaust  the  fertilizer  potash  in 
the  soil,  and  then  oranges  and  early  po- 
tatoes could  not  be  raised  profitably.  But 
our  farmers  discovered,  as  the  war  went 
on,  that  they  had  been  using  several 
times  as  much  potash  as  they  really 
needed,  owing  to  the  persistent  advertis- 
ing of  potash  by  the  Germans. 

The  Chilean  nitrates  are  produced  by 
nearly  200  companies,  large  and  small ; 
some  Chilean,  others  German  and  Brit- 
ish, with  two  American  companies  that 
have  recently  entered  the  industry.  The 
majority  is  organized  in  a  producers'  as- 
sociation for  the  purpose  of  adjusting 
production  to  demand,  maintaining  sat- 
isfactory prices  and  increasing  the  use  of 
nitrates  through  advertising  and  demon- 
stration. On  every  quintal  of  about 
ninety-five  pounds  a  small  tax  is  levied, 
just  as  our  orange  growers  tax  them- 
selves a  few  cents  on  each  box  for  ad- 
vertising and  sales  work.  This  tax 
brings  in  about  $300,000  yearly,  to 
which  the  Chilean  Government  adds 
$150,000  more.  The  fund  of  nearly 
$500,000  is  used  to  maintain  nitrate 
propaganda  offices  in  the  United  States, 
England,  France,  Italy,  Spain,  Belgium, 


Holland,  Egypt,  Japan,  Australia,  India 
and  South  Africa — in  all,  twelve  coun- 
tries. 

In  the  United  States  there  is  an  office 
in  New  York,  with  ten  traveling  assist- 
ants who  keep  in  touch  with  all  the  or- 
ganizations of  farmers  who  use  artifi- 
cial fertilizer.  This  office  distributes 
thousands  of  pamphlets  and  samples  and 
assists  in  research  and  experimental  work 
likely  to  increase  the  use  of  nitrates. 

More  money  is  spent  in  the  United 
States  for  propaganda  than  in  any  other 
country,  because  our  country  offers  the 
greatest  field  for  expansion  in  the  use  of 
nitrates.  England  and  Germany  were 
bigger  importers  before  the  war,  but  be- 
cause they  had  the  most  capital  invested 
in  the  Chilean  nitrate  fields  and  were 
active  distributors.  Virtually  every 
pound  of  nitrate  that  we  bought,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  used  either  for  fer- 
tilizer, explosives  or  industrial  purposes. 
The  American  farmer  is  steadily  in- 
creasing his  use  of  chemical  fertilizer. 
For  one  thing,  our  agriculture  is  becom- 
ing more  scientific  and  exact,  and  a  dol- 
lar's worth  of  the  right  chemical  in  the 
right  place  adds  ten  dollars  to  the  value 
of  the  crop.  For  another,  millions  of 
acres  of  land  in  our  corn  belt  begin  to 
need  artificial  fertilizer. 

ARMISTICE  MEANT  GLOOM 

VyE  ARE  also  liberal  consumers  of  ex- 
plosives. Dynamite  is  rapidly  be- 
coming our  cheapest  hired  man.  It  is 
used  not  only  in  mines,  quarries  and  con- 
struction work,  but  the  American  farmer 
is  learning  to  keep  a  box  of  it  handy  for 
innumerable  odd  jobs  of  clearing,  ditch- 
ing, draining,  planting  trees,  cracking  up 
hardpan,  road  repairing  and  the  like. 

For  farm  purposes  the  Chilean  nitrates 
will  undoubtedly  hold  their  own  over  ni- 
trates extracted  from  the  air.  There  are 
low  grades  suitable  for  fertilizer  and 
they  do  not  spoil,  like  the  synthetic  arti- 
cle, and  are  more  easily  distributed  over 
the  soil,  and  cheaper.  While  the  wars 
of  the  nineteenth  century  have  exerted 
some  influence  upon  production  and  sale, 
Chile's  best  customers  have  been  the 
farmer,  the  horticulturist,  the  vineyard- 
ist  and  the  planter.  From  1880,  when 
the  exportation  was  226,000  tons,  the 
sales  abroad  have  steadily  increased  year 


by  year  at  the  rate  of  about  40,000  tons 
annually.  It  is  not  possible  to  trace  the 
influence  of  any  war  except  the  world 
conflict,  because  agricultural  demand  has 
fluctuated  from  year  to  year,  sometimes 
causing  a  setback,  and  then  a  spurt 
which  brought  the  average  up.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  world  war  exports  had 
reached  nearly  2,500,000  tons.  It  fell 
off  to  2,000,000  in  1914  and  1915  be- 
cause agricultural  customers  could  not 
be  supplied  or  were  not  buying.  In  1916 
war  demand  brought  exports  up  to  the 
record  of  nearly  3,000,000  tons,  which 
was  continued  during  the  last  year  of 
the  war. 

With  the  armistice — bing! 

Nobody  wanted  nitrates  for  war,  and 
the  peace  demand  held  back.  Besides, 
there  were  no  ships  to  carry  the  stuff  to 
American  farmers,  and  our  war-Jban  on 
agricultural  nitrates  had  not'been  lifted. 
The  Chileans  had  only  240,000  tons  on 
hand  above  their  normal  pre-war  stocks, 
which  represented  no  more  than  a  good- 
sized  order  from  fertilizer  manufacturers 
in  a  country  like  Belgium.  Production 
had  to  be  cut  down,  men  laid  off  and 
labor  lost  from  the  nitrate  fields.  The 
companies  did  not  suffer,  because  they 
had  all  made  money  during  the  war.  The 
loss  of  labor  was  most  serious,  because 
workers  are  not  easily  attracted  to  the 
waterless,  hot,  unattractive  nitrate  re- 
gion. 

TO  STABILIZE  PRICES 

J-JOWEVER,  the  Chilean  Government 
came  to  the  rescue,  advancing  money 
upon  the  nitrate  which  was  produced 
and  waiting  customers,  and  the  producers 
found  themselves  stronger  in  teamwork 
than  they  had  ever  been  as  a  result  of 
association  during  the  war. 

This  new  habit  of  working  together 
they  now  propose  to  apply  to  their  prop- 
aganda in  other  countries. 

Increased  sales  of  nitrate  to  foreigners 
have  often  been  checked  in  the  past  by 
fluctuations  in  the  price.  If  nitrate  is 
reasonable  in  cost  when  the  time  comes 
around  to  buy  his  fertilizer,  the  farmer 
will  use  it.  But  if  the  price  is  high, 
either  he  or  the  fertilizer  manufacturer 
will  cut  down  the  quantity  or  turn  to  a 
substitute — fertilizer  being  made  up  of 
so  many  different  ingredients,  this  is  easy 
in  the  case  of  nitrate,  because  it  has  more 
substitutes  than  either  potash  or  phos- 
phate, the  two  other  chief  ingredients  of 
chemical  fertilizer.  Fluctuations  in  price, 
the  producers  believe,  have  usually  been 
due  to  the  manipulations  of  merchants 
who  buy  and  distribute  the  nitrate  and 
to  surplus  stocks  or  shortage  in  different 
countries.  To  remedy  this  and  encour- 
age steady  increase  in  agricultural  use, 
their  association  plans  to  maintain  stocks 
of  nitrate  in  consuming  countries  and  use 
these  to  stabilize  prices. 

Some  of  the  Chilean  nitrate  men  say 


134 


CHILE 


CHILEAN   FARMYARD,    SHOWING   NKED   FOR    AMERICAN    TRACTORS. 


that  the  United  States  now  has  an  ex- 
cellent opportunity  to  replace  the  Ger- 
mans as  a  nitrate  distributor  in  other 
countries.  We  have  the  money  and  also 
a  knack  at  advertising  which  would  won- 
derfully supplement  the  Chilean  associa- 
tion's propaganda.  We  buy  a  great  deal 
of  nitrate  in  the  course  of  the  year,  they 
point  out,  but  in  comparatively  small 
lots— 50,000  to  100,000  ton  orders.  If 
we  would  stock  up  with,  say,  1,000,000 
tons  at  a  crack,  and  set  up  shop  on  a 
wholesale  scale,  we  would  save  money 
on  our  own  purchases  and  be  able  to  sell 
to  other  countries,  besides  keeping  our 
new  ships  busy.  The  British  have  al- 
ready bought  such  a  big  order,  despite 
shortage  of  shipping.  It  is  evident  that 
the  new  lines  of  nitrate  distribution  will 
be  worked  out  this  year,  and  either  the 
United  States  or  England  will  take  over 
Germany's  trade — the  Chileans  wonder 
why  we  don't  get  into  the  game. 


ARTICLE  LXXX 

MAIL  SERVICE  OF  U.  S. 
AN  OBSTACLE  TO  TRADE 

yALPARAISO,  Chile,  Feb.  4.— The 
Chilean  national  bird  is  the  condor. 
During  the  war  Uncle  Sam  was  very 
nice  to  it  through  several  of  our  govern- 
ment departments.  At  the  same  time,  in 
another  department,  chipmunks  in  specta- 
cles were  twisting  the  Chilean  condor's 
tail. 

Or  to  use  another  simile,  they  were 
trying  to  pick  the  Chilean  national  pocket 
through  an  intermediary. 


On  the  east  coast  of  South  America 
mail  service  to  the  United  States  the  last 
year  has  been  not  merely  slow  and  irreg- 
ular, but  has  at  times  virtually  ceased  to 
exist.  Our  postoffice  relies  upon  three 
British  passenger  steamships  to  reach 
Brazil  and  the  River  Plata.  The  writer 
left  New  York  June  21  on  one  of  these, 
the  Vauban.  She  reached  Buenos  Aires 
July  17,  returned  to  New  York,  took 
her  cargo  of  Argentine  beef  to  England, 
came  back  to  New  York  again,  was  tied 
up  in  the  dock  strike,  or  coal  crisis,  or 
something  else,  and  left  for  South  Amer- 
ica again  November  19.  That  is  five 
months  between  voyages.  Another  of 
these  ships  was  put  out  of  commission  by 
fire  last  summer.  Mail  from  the  United 
States  to  the  east  coast  even  at  this  writ- 
ing is  seldom  less  than  two  months  old. 
Yet,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  our  new 
freight  ships  are  now  reaching  east  coast 
ports  almost  daily.  New  York  dock 
strikes  do  not  interfere  with  them,  be- 
cause many  leave  from  southern  ports. 
Coal  strikes  do  not  bother  them  because 
they  burn  oil.  The  postal  authorities  of 
Argentina  and  Brazil  quickly  made  ar- 
rangements to  send  mail  north  on  our 
freighters.  But  for  our  postoffice,  ap- 
parently they  do  not  exist. 

Americans  on  the  east  coast  have  been 
envying  those  on  the  west  coast,  with 
their  fast,  frequent  service  of  Chilean, 
British  and  American  passenger  steam- 
ers. But,  on  arrival  in  Santiago,  the 
writer  heard  the  same  bitter  complaint 
about  the  difficulty  of  doing  business 
without  good  mail  service.  Our  ships 
carry  mail  down   to  Chile,  but  do  not 


bring  Chilean  letters  back.  The  Chilean 
ships  carry  that,  but  apparently  not 
ours.  There  is  no  satisfactory  parcel 
post  service  from  Chile  to  the  United 
States — the  best  way  to  mail  anything  in 
that  line  is  to  send  it  through  Peru.  The 
Chileans  are  looking  forward  to  the  Brit- 
ish plans  for  putting  on  more  steamers 
to  Valparaiso,  when  they  feel  that  there 
will  be  somebody  to  help  them  organize 
communication  again. 

SHIP  BOARD  BLUNDERED 

A  VISIT  to  the  Postoffice  Department 
in  Santiago  discovered  an  official 
called  the  "Administrator,"  who  plunged 
excitedly  into  his  troubles  when  asked  to 
discuss  mail  service  between  Chile  and 
the  United  States. 

He  said  that  Chilean  ships  carry  mail 
free,  being  subsidized ;  that  English 
ships  carry  it  for  a  reasonable  sum,  $5000 
a  year,  and  get  port  privileges  in  return ; 
that  when  the  Chileans  put  their  mail 
on  the  new  American  ships  in  1918  they 
were  presented  with  a  bill  for  40,000 
pesos  by  the  American  steamship  people, 
W.  R.  Grace  &  Co. ;  that  Panama 
Canal  fees  on  parcel  post  matter  made  it 
too  expensive;  that  Chile  had  parcel 
post  arrangements  with  most  other  coun- 
tries, but  not  ours,  because  our  govern- 
ment wanted  to  make  individual  horse 
trades  with  each  country  instead  of  fol- 
lowing the  universal  plan  and  rates  of 
the  postal  union ;  that  we  send  a  great 
deal  of  merchandise  and  printed  matter 
to  Chile,  but  she  sends  back  only  10  per 
cent  as  much ;  that  all  ships  coming  to 
Chile  are  by  law  required  to  carry  mail 
free,  but  that  the  Yankee  steamship  men 
got  around  this  by  taking  mail  only  to 
the  last  Chilean  port,  Arica;  that  he 
was  looking  forward  keenly  to  the  twelve 
big  English  steamers  that  were  to  be 
put  on  west-coast  routes. 

The  next  person  was  a  gentleman  from 
Buffalo,  the  manager  for  Grace  &  Co., 
at  Valparaiso — Mr.  J.  J.  Heavey.  He 
had  the  rest  of  the  story. 

In  March,  1918,  his  company  put  on 
two  passenger  steamers  between  New 
York  and  Valparaiso,  and  had  planned  to 
add  three  more.  They  began  carrying 
the  Chilean  mail  free,  to  make  friends 
as  well  as  comply  with  the  Chilean  law. 
After  the  first  trip  their  steamers  were 
taken  over  by  the  United  States  shipping 
board.  They  continued  carrying  the 
mail  for  the  Chileans. 

Suddenly,  one  day,  there  was  presented 
at  the  New  York  office  of  the  company 
a  bill  for  $7672  by  the  shipping  board 
against  the  Chilean  postoffice,  this  being 
eighty  cents  a  pound  for  all  the  letters 
carried  to  date,  weights  being  estimated, 
because  no  records  had  been  kept. 

The  shipping  board  directed  Grace  & 
Co.  to  collect  that  money  from  the  Chil- 
ean postoffice.     Mr.  Heavey  told  New 


York  that  it  could  not  be  collected.  The 
shipping  board  was  insistent.  The  bill 
was  presented,  the  horrified  Chileans  hur- 
ried their  mail  off  the  American  boats 
and,  after  a  little  official  correspondence, 
found  a  perfectly  good  reason  for  hang- 
ing the  whole  subject  in  the  air,  where 
it  still  remains  suspended  like  Ma- 
homet's coffin.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  our 
own  courts  they  would  probably  not  be 
liable  for  this  money,  because  they  started 
out  under  a  perfect  understanding  with 
Grace  &  Co.,  and  our  government  made 
no  arrangement  at  all. 

BUSINESS  DIVORCED 

DECAUSE  our  government  apparently 
has  no  clear  understanding  with  any- 
body in  Latin  America  about  mail  serv- 
ice that  service  is  the  neglected  orphan 
of  our  world  trade.  The  mimeographs 
keep  whirling  in  Washington,  and  the 
chipmunks  in  spectacles  issue  optimistic 
statements  daily  about  the  progress  we 
are  making  in  world  trade.  Progress  is 
being  made,  but  by  American  business 
men  in  Latin  America  working  under 
every  obstacle  imposed  by  lack  of  regu- 
lar mail  service.  British  mail  service  has 
been  irregular  the  last  year,  but  is  rap- 
idly being  restored.  The  Yankee  in 
Latin  America  gets  his  latest  news  from 
home  through  the  weekly  editions  of 
London  newspapers,  because  they  are 
usually  two  to  four  weeks  later  than 
newspapers  from  New  York.  The  Brit- 
ish Government  negotiates  with  Latin- 
American  postoffice  officials  and  makes 
clear  business  contracts.  With  Chile,  as 
an  illustration,  British  ships  carry  mail 
on  reasonable  terms  and  have  favorable 
places  at  customs  house  moorings  and 
other  facilities  for  quick-around.  If  the 
British  cannot  send  their  parcel  post- 
through  a  foreign  postoffice  department! 
as  was  the  case  in  the  United  States,  theyl 
land  it  there  through  some  private  busi-l 
ness  organization  like  the  American  Ex- 
press Co. 

.  Why  shouldn't  a  postoffice  department 
have  an  advertising  and  sales  force? 
Uncle  Sam's  mail  service  now  to  other 
countries  seems  to  be  an  obscure,  hap- 
hazard affair,  governed  chiefly  by  the 
cheapest  chance  arrangement  that  can 
be  made  for  transportation,  regardless  of 
directness,  frequency  or  regularity.  It  is 
said  that  the  red  tape  thrown  about  ves- 
sels carrying  United  States  mail  imposes 
so  many  restrictions  that  companies  op- 
erating our  new  freighters  do  not  want 
to  have  anything  to  do  with  it.  A  busi- 
ness executive,  given  free  hand,  would 
get  the  mail  on  to  the  ships,  first  of  all. 
He  would  get  it  on  to  the  ships  that  gave 
him  fast,  regular  service.  Having  or- 
ganized his  service,  he  would  sell  it  to  the 
public.  Through  advertising  he  would 
let  people  know  the  routes,  the  sailing 
dates  and  closing  hours.  He  would  make 
it  easy  for  business  houses  to  get  letters 


CHILE 

and  shipping  documents  on  certain  steam- 
ers by  establishing  places  in  the  business 
district  for  mailing  stuff  at  the  last  mo- 
ment. He  would  advertise  his  parcel  post 
service  as  something  through  which  busi- 
ness houses  might  develop  customers 
abroad.  Through  the  printed  word  he 
would  create  in  the  United  States  that 
"steamer-day"  sense  which  has  become 
instinctive  with  the  business  men  in  big 
exporting  countries.  He  would  develop 
this  steamer  sense  not  only  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia  and  Boston,  but  in  Chicago, 
Detroit  and  other  world-trade  centers 
which  are  growing  up  inland  faster  than 
people  suspect. 

Briefly,  he  would  do  what  Washington 
ought  to  do — take  this  Little  Orphant 
Annie  off  the  world-trade  streets,  feed 
her,  clothe  her,  send  her  to  school  and 
make  her  an  asset  instead  of  a  liability. 


ARTICLE  LXXXI 

LIBERATORS  OF  CHILE 
FROM  FAR-OFF  NATIONS 

yALPARAISO,  Chile,  Feb.  6.— 
When  a  Yankee  hears  that  the  lib- 
erator of  Chile  was  named  "O'Higgins," 
he  somehow  feels  that  there  must  be  a 
bond  of  understanding  with  a  country 
like  that,  possibly  a  melting  pot  country 
like  his  own. 

The  O'Higgins  was  a  Chilean  by 
birth,  but  of  Irish  descent.  His  father 
before  him,  Ambrose  O'Higgins,  emi- 
grated from  the  Emerald  Isle  to  Chile 
a  poor  lad,  and  worked  his  way  up  until 
he  was  viceroy  of  Peru  under  Spanish 
rule. 

Chilean  historv  and  the  Chilean  tele- 


US 

phone  directories  are  full  of  British, 
Scotch  and  Irish  names — the  Cochranes, 
the  MacKennas,  the  Edwardses  and  oth- 
ers who  married  into  Spanish  families, 
helped  throw  off  the  Spanish  yoke,  and 
left  descendants  who  retain  the  original 
family  names. 

But  the  first  great  Chileans  were  two 
Araucanian  Indians — Caupolican  and 
Lautaro. 

Of  all  the  wild  Indians  found  in  the 
western  world  the  Araucanians  of  Chile 
were  certainly  wildest— warlike,  pas- 
sionately devoted  to  their  country'  and 
unconquerable.  "Men  of  iron  with 
souls  of  tigers"  the  Spaniards  called 
them,  and  after  death  their  bodies  were 
burned  in  the  belief  that  the  Araucanian 
warriors  might  thereby  rise  to  the  clouds 
and  continue  fighting  dead  Spaniards. 
These  liberty-loving  people  produced  two 
chiefs  who  ranged  as  first-class  generals. 

Caupolican  was  first  to  oppose  the  in- 
vaders after  Santiago  had  been  estab- 
lished by  the  Conquistador  Valdivia.  A 
mature  strategist,  he  learned  rapidly 
from  the  Spaniards  in  battle,  discarding 
bows  for  pikes,  adopting  regimental  or- 
ganization and  capturing  horses  which 
were  bred  for  cavalry.  His  story  has 
been  immortalized  in  the  Chilean  epic, 
"La  Araucana,"  by  Alonso  de  Ercilla,  a 
Spaniard,  who  fought  against  him. 

O'HIGGINS  AND  MacKENNA 

f  AUTARO  was  a  military  genius  who 
outmaneuvered  the  Spaniards,  fooled 
them  with  camouflage  devices  like 
dummy  reserves  of  boys  and  women 
with  poles  and  finally  conquered  and 
killed  Valdivia,  falling  in  battle  him- 
self when  only  twenty-two.    Although  it 


GENERAL   STORE   IN   CHILE   COUNTRY   SECTION,    A' 
OUTLET   FOR   U.    S.    PRODUCTS 


POSSIBLE 


136 


CHILE 


took  nearly  three  centuries  of  fighting 
to  virtually  destroy  the  Araucanians,  of 
no  part  of  their  national  history  are  the 
Chileans  more  proud  today,  and  to  Arau- 
canian  character  is  undoubtedly  due 
much  of  their  own  patriotism  and  war- 
like character  when  aroused.  The  Chil- 
eans have  not  been  aggressors,  but  nei- 
ther have  they  ever  lost  a  war.  The  sin- 
gle star  on  Chile's  flag  is  the  Araucanian 
national  symbol. 

The  next  outstanding  figures  loom  up 
in  the  days  of  independence,  between 
1810  and  1825. 
General  Bernardo 
O'Higgins  was 
educated  in  Chile 
and  Europe,  or- 
ganized a  company 
of  soldiers  and 
demonstrated  fight- 
ing ability  during 
the  beginning  of 
the  revolution 
against  the  Span- 
iards, and  was 
driven  across 
the  Andes  to  Men- 
doza,  Argentina, 
with  his  aide, 
Colonel  Juan 
MacKenna,  in 
1814.  There  he 
worked  with  the 
Argentino  Gen- 
eral San  Martin 
to  organize  the 
dauntless  cowboy 
'Army  of  the  An- 
des." It  was  a 
little  army,  only 
5000  men  and 
1600  horses,  but 
it  took  three  years 
in  the  making. 
Women  gave  their 
jewels  to  provide 
equipment,  and  the 
famous  Franciscan 
friar  patriot,  Luis 
Beltran,  a  true 
captain  of  indus- 
try, made  muskets 
and  powder,  melt- 
ed the  church  bells 
and  cast  cannon, 
provided  gun  car- 
riages, horse  gear, 
clothes  and  shoes. 
Andean  passes  were  being  explored 
and  prepared  and  the  army  rigidly 
drilled.  In  January,  1817,  O'Hig- 
gins and  San  Martin  went  over  the  top 
of  the  western  hemisphere  and  cleared 
the  Spaniards  out  of  Chile  forever.  From 
Mendoza  to  victory  the  job  took  twenty- 
four  days.  O'Higgins  took  the  reserve 
force  through  the  pass  of  Los  Patos. 
After  independence  had  been  proclaimed 
he  became  dictator  of  Chile.    He  formed 


a  navy,  under  the  command  of  Admiral 
Cochrane,  an  Englishman,  afterward  a 
lord,  and  sent  him  north  to  liberate 
Peru.  Four  thousand  Chileno  and  Ar- 
gentino soldiers  were  transported,  and 
there  were  a  large  number  of  English 
officers.  Cochrane  captured  a  Spanish 
frigate  in  the  port  of  Callao,  and  San 
Martin  landed  his  troops  and  began  op- 
erations which  led  to  the  liberation  of 
Peru  in  1824.  O'Higgins  was  strong- 
headed  and  soon  aroused  opposition, 
which  forced  his  resignation  and  led  to 


STATUE   OF   QBNER. 
WHICH   HE   !.K 


Meanwhile,     the 


VI.    SAX    .MARTIN    LOOKING    TOWARD    Til  10    ANDES 
D   HIS  GAUCHO  ARMY.      MR.    AND  MRS.    JAMES    H 
SEEN    IN    THE    PICTURE 


the  formation  of  an  Assembly,  and  Chile 
elected  its  first  president  in  1831. 

CHILENO  A  BORN  SAILOR 

ADMIRAL  COCHRANE  was  a 
hearty  English  seadog,  a  little  out 
of  favor  at  home  just  then,  and  seeking 
employment.  O'Higgins  put  him  to 
work.  There  were  Spanish  warships  on 
the  ocean  and  a  Spanish  stronghold  at 
the  Chilean  port  of  Valdivia.  With  two 
small  vessels  Cochrane  sailed  into  Val- 


divia bay,  trusting  to  bad  Spanish  marks- 
manship to  get  through — which  he  did. 
Then  he  made  a  night  attack  on  the 
forts,  which  the  defenders  considered  an 
impossible  feat  in  the  dark,  and  in  the 
morning  found  they  had  been  captured. 
After  that  he  proceeded  to  clean  up  the 
Spanish  navy,  with  the  same  success. 
Cochrane  was  resourceful  in  war  devices, 
among  other  things  being  one  of  the  first 
to  propose  poison  gas,  by  using  sulphur 
fumes  and  the  wind  to  make  hostile  ships 
and  forts  untenable.  His  habit  of  doing 
the  unexpected 
thing  profoundly 
worried  the  Span- 
iards. 

Because  the 
Chileno  is  a  born 
sailor,  some  of  his 
most  spectacular 
achievements  have 
been  performed  on 
sea.  In  the  war 
with  Peru  and 
Bolivia,  in  1879, 
the  Chilean  navy 
had  only  a  few  old 
wooden  vessels, 
whereas  the  Pe- 
ruvians possessed  a 
couple  of  ironclads, 
bought  in  Europe. 
Captain  A  r  t  u  r  o 
Prat  tackled  the 
Peruvian  ironclad 
Huascar  with  the 
old  Chilean  wood- 
en corvette  Esmer- 
alda, stood  up  four 
hours,  was  rammed 
three  times  and 
finally  went  down 
with  guns  firing 
and  colors  flying. 
The  Peruvian  ad- 
miral, Grau,  sent 
a  letter  of  sympa- 
thy and  admiration 
to  his  adversary's 
widow.  On  the 
same  day  the  larger 
Peruvian  ironclad, 
Independencia,  ran 
on  the  rocks  chas- 
ing a  Chilean 
schooner  of  2000 
tons  and  was  de- 
stroyed. A  few  months  later  the  Chileans 
captured  the  Huascar,  ended  the  Peru- 
vian sea  power  and  subsequently  took 
Bolivia's  ports,  cutting  her  off  from  the 
ocean.  The  high  character  of  the 
Chileno  navy  is  further  illustrated  by 
the  fact  that  in  1891,  following  Chile's 
only  revolution  in  recent  times,  the  fac- 
tions settled  upon  Captain  Jorge  Montt, 
of  the  navy,  as  a  sailor-president,  and 
his  impartiality  laid  the  foundations  for 


;*•&*. 


MASSES    THROUGH 
COLLINS  ARE 


CHILE 


137 


the  peaceful  progress  that  has  gone  on 
in  Chile  the  last  thirty  years. 

One  of  Chile's  greatest  men  was  the 
poet  and  scholar,  Andres  Bello.  Born  in 
Venezuela,  he  spent  half  his  life  study- 
ing and  writing,  part  of  it  in  London. 
Then  the  Chilean  Government  invited 
him  to  Santiago,  where  he  edited  the  offi- 
cial newspaper  and  conducted  a  school 
in  which  literature  was  chiefly  taught, 
and  from  which  a  fine  group  of  young 
writers  emerged  in  a  few  years.  Then 
he  reorganized  the  University  of  Chile, 
wrote  the  nation's  civil  code  and  gave 
a  tremendous  impetus  to  education.  His 
learning  and  character  were  such  that 
he  was  frequently  called  in  as  an  arbi- 
trator   when     disputes     arose     between 


not  a  very  well  balanced  hymn — maybe 
he  was  an  unbalanced  poet.  But  it  called 
upon  all  Latin  America  to  arise  and  re- 
sist the  Barbarian  of  the  North,  and 
rumor  said  it  circulated  widely  all  over 
the  southern  continent  and  was  part  of 
a  campaign  against  the  Yankees  under- 
taken by  literary  men. 

It  is  disquieting  to  think  about  such 
distorted  stuff  circulating  among  our 
friends  to  the  south. 

Don't  think  about  it,  however,  for  it 
doesn't  circulate  to  any  extent. 

As  Sidney  Smith  once  asked,  con- 
temptuously, "Who  reads  an  American 
book?"  So  the  phrase  might  be  applied 
to  Latin  America's  literature.  The 
southern  continent  today  is  in  much  the 


up  circulation  of  books  between  South 
and  North  America  for  a  better  under- 
standing all  around. 

The  Chilean  National  Library  has  a 
large  American  department  devoted  to 
the  books  of  both  continents.  Fully  two- 
fifths  of  the  volumes  are  North  Ameri- 
can books,  and  a  recent  gift  of  3000  vol- 
umes by  the  Carnegie  Institute  will  bring 
the  percentage  up  to  half.  The  Carnegie 
gift  was  carefully  selected  with  a  view  to 
making  available  in  Chile  a  wide  range 
of  information  upon  our  national  life  and 
activities. 

Figures  compiled  during  one  year  at 
this  library  show  that  of  68,000  vol- 
umes asked  for  in  the  reading-room 
33,000  were  Chilean  and  35,000  foreign. 


As1*»ni 


iwiv-r 


DOUBLE   TANDEM1  OX   TEAM  ON   COUNTRY  liOAD   IN  CENTRAL    Cllll, 


:.  •:  .      . 


Latin-American  countries,  and  in  1864 
he  settled  one  between  Ecuador  and  the 
United  States.  Upon  his  death  the  Chil- 
ean Government,  which  has  always  been 
conspicuous  for  rendering  official  trib- 
ute to  benefactors,  paid  the  expense  of 
publishing  his  collected  writings  in  a 
dozen  volumes. 


ARTICLE  LXXXII 

CHILE  IS  BOMBARDING 
WALLS  OF  IGNORANCE 

yALPARAISO,  Chile,  Feb.  8.— Some 
time  ago  a  poet  in  one  of  the  Latin- 
American  countries  wrote  a  "Hymn  of 
Hate"  against  the  United  States.    It  was 


same  situation  as  ourselves  seventy-five 
years  ago  in  this  respect,  and  it  suffers 
under  certain  handicaps  that  go  with  lack 
of  interchange  of  reading  matter. 

The  Latin-American  republics  are 
still  surrounded  by  Chinese  walls,  in  the 
view  of  Senor  Carlos  Silva  Cruz,  direc- 
tor of  the  Chilean  National  Library,  the 
largest  on  the  southern  continent.  For 
some  years  Senor  Cruz  has  deplored  this 
state  of  affairs  and  endeavored  to  cor- 
rect it.  It  is  not  so  much  a  matter  of 
circulating  the  fiction  and  poetry  of  the 
different  countries  among  themselves  as 
of  circulating  the  scientific,  technical  and 
economic  literature  so  necessary  to  their 
material  development ;  likewise  of  setting 


Of  the  latter,  French  led  with  15,000 
volumes,  Spanish  came  next  with  12,000, 
and  only  2300  were  American.  That  6 
per  cent  represented  works  from  the  nine- 
teen other  Latin-American  countries  and 
also  the  United  States.  Through  a  local 
campaign  to  arouse  interest  in  neighbor- 
ing countries,  Senor  Cruz  succeeded  in 
bringing  the  proportion  up  to  10  per 
cent  the  following  year. 

CHILEANS  FAVOR  FRENCH 

'"pHE  Chinese  wall  even  runs  around 
Spain,  though  not  quite  so  high.  It 
might  be  thought  that  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can countries  would  read  Spanish  litera- 
ture, but  the  gre,at  bulk  of  their  foreign 
reading  is  French.   This  is  due  not  only 


138 

to  their  admiration  for  French  thought 
and  achievement,  but  also  to  the  activi- 
ties of  French  publishers  in  sending  an- 
nouncements of  new  books.  Spanish  pub- 
lishers lack  this  enterprise,  often  fail  to 
answer  letters  of  inquiry  about  books  and 
supply  them  only  after  tedious  delays,  if 
at  all. 

If  a  Chilean  writes  a  useful  book  it 
is  read  in  Chile,  but  not  in  Argentina  or 
Peru,  much  less  distant  Central-Ameri- 
can countries.  As  the  reading  public  in 
no  Latin-American  country  exceeds  a 
million  people,  and  in  the  small  countries 
maybe  a  few  thousands,  the  sale  of  any 
book  is  small  and  publication  unprofit- 
able, whereas  if  books  could  be  circulated 
on  the  continental  plan,  as  with  us,  large 
editions  could  be  published. 

The  Latin  American  who,  through 
reading,  knows  anything  at  all  of  the 
United  States — its  people,  character, 
work  and  ideals — knows  us  only  through 
European  books.  In  the  main  these  are 
works  written  by  foreign  visitors  to  the 
United  States,  seeing  us  through  French 
or  other  European  spectacles.  Thus  there 
is  a  double  distortion,  and  for  the  investi- 
gator bent  upon  adapting  our  practical 
achievement  in  his  own  country  a  dis- 
tance certain  to  defeat  his  efforts.  The 
time  element  enters  into  it  also,  for  mat- 
ters in  which  we  are  making  progress 
may  not  be  reported  from  Europe  for 
years,  or  be  overlooked  altogether. 

Very  few  American  books  are  sold  on 
the  southern  continent,  because  our  pub- 
lishers have  not  established  outlets  or 
connections.  Each  large  city  has  its  Eng- 
lish bookstore,  usually,  but  the  stock  in 
trade  is  chiefly  British  fiction,  with  some 
American  "best  sellers,"  and  scarcely  a 
five-foot  shelf  of  soldier  works,  either 
British  or  American.  The  most  enter- 
prising publishers  are  those  in  the  United 
States  issuing  technical  handbooks  deal- 
ing with  machinery,   electricity,   power, 


CHILE 

chemistry  and  like  practical  subjects. 
They  seem  to  have  worked  out  a  scheme 
of  distribution  that  lands  their  books 
where  they  are  wanted,  and  other  pub- 
lishers in  the  United  States  and  England 
ought  to  find  out  how  they  do  it. 

Senor  Cruz  has  a  plan  for  breaking 
down  the  Chinese  wall  around  the  dif- 
ferent countries,  and  also  the  two  conti- 
nents. He  suggests  that  the  National 
Library  in  each  country,  including  the 
United  States,  establish  a  bureau  of 
Pan-American  bibliographic  information, 
cataloguing  its  own  data  on  economics, 
political  organization,  science,  history  and 
literature,  following  a  standard  system. 
This  information  would  then  be  ex- 
changed by  all  the  countries  and  dis- 
tributed through  their  universities,  gov- 
ernment departments,  authors,  editors  or 
whoever  might  want  it  in  his  work. 

PLAN  IS  COMPREHENSIVE 

CPECIAL  information  would  also  be 
furnished  to  investigators  of  special 
subjects,  so  that  a  Chilean  interested  in 
American  educational  methods,  or  Cen- 
tral-American music  or  Brazilian  live- 
stock improvement  could  be  put  in  touch 
with  the  latest  information. 

The  national  libraries  can  also  es- 
tablish an  international  commerce  in 
books,  receiving  volumes  of  general  in- 
terest from  publishers  in  other  countries, 
placing  them  in  bookstores  and  collecting 
the  money  when  sold.  The  volumes 
would  have  to  be  sent  on  approval,  of 
course,  and  unsold  books  taken  back  by 
the  publishers,  but  after  a  time  experi- 
ence would  unquestionably  show  which 
books  aroused  interest  in  other  countries, 
and  the  mere  accessibility  of  the  books 
would  encourage  their  sale. 

From  our  standpoint  there  is  every 
reason  to  make  representative  American 
books  available  on  some  such  plan,  be- 
cause Latin  America  has  a  new  interest 


in  us  since  the  war,  and  thousands  of 
young  people  are  learning  English.  In 
the  American  department  of  the  Chilean 
Library  there  are  forty  to  fifty  readers 
daily  consulting  our  books  on  educational, 
economic,  technical,  legal  and  other  sub- 
jects. When  the  library  moves  into  its 
magnificent  new  building,  about  a  year 
hence,  the  North  American  books  will  be 
given  a  specially  convenient  arrangement, 
and  the  Chilean  Government  expects  to 
have  the  director  of  the  Carnegie  Insti- 
tute down  to  Santiago  for  a  little  cele- 
bration. 

Chile  is  especially  active  in  matters  of 
authorship  and  literature.  Her  writers 
pay  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  history 
and  the  Chilean  Historical  Society  has 
600  members,  a  surprising  number  for  so 
small  a  country. 

Another  surprising  fact  is  that  Chile 
has  a  Spanish  language  of  her  own  and 
a  Chilean  academy  to  deal  with  its  gram- 
mar. This  academy  is  appointed  by  the 
Spanish  Royal  Academy,  which  lays 
down  rules  of  grammar  for  the  mother 
tongue,  but  is  not  so  arbitrary  as 
the  institution  in  Spain.  Years  ago 
Chile  benefited  by  two  scholars  who 
climbed  over  the  Chinese  walls — Andres 
Bello,  a  Venezuelan,  and  Domingo  Sar- 
miento,  from  Argentina.  They  gave 
Chilean  literature  and  education  a  won- 
derful stimulus,  and  among  other  things 
dealt  with  Chilean  grammar.  Deciding 
that  the  tendency  in  all  languages  is  to- 
ward simplification  and  phonetics,  they 
introduced  some  simplified  spelling  for 
Chilean  use,  substituting  "i"  for  "y"  and 
"j"  for  "g"  in  certain  words.  The  word 
"and"  is  indicated  by  "i"  instead  of  "y" 
in  much  Chilean  writing,  and  Spanish 
words  like  "general"  are  spelled  "jen- 
eral."  This  is  the  Chilean  official  lan- 
guage, used  in  documents  and  govern- 
ment publications,  but  in  recent  years 
there  has  been  a  tendency  back  to  the 
Spanish  of  Spain. 


.    ■ 


"-Hill 


Pe 


ru 


Landing  at  Callao,  Peru's  Chief  Port  of  Entry 


ARTICLE  LXXXIII 

AMUSEMENT  PARK  WILL 
MAKE  GOOD  IN  PERU 

LIMA,  Peru,  Feb.  10.— "The  best  re- 
tail grocery  stores  in  South  Ameri- 
ca," declares  an  American  distributing 
food  specialties,  speaking  of  Lima.  Run 
by  Italians,  they  carry  splendid  stocks, 
well  displayed,  clean,  with  full  lines  of 
Chicago  meats,  Pittsburgh  pickles,  Cali- 
fornia canned  goods.  The  grocery  dis- 
tributor in  Lima  cannot  complain  about 
lack  of  outlets.  One  interesting  point  is 
that  American  specialties,  though  not 
cheap,  are  found  in  groceries  even 
through  the  poorer  quarters. 

Peruvians  are  fun-loving.  They  love 
the  "chispa,"  or  spark  of  wit  that  sets 
everybody  roaring.  But  they  are  as  in- 
stant and  energetic  in  their  antipathies. 
If  the  bull  fight  is  not  exciting  enough, 
they  try  to  burn  the  grandstand.  There 
is  a  pedestal  and  a  marble  chair  in  Lima. 
Once  the  statue  of  a  Peruvian  president 
was  seated  in  the  chair.  But  the  presi- 
dent became  unpopular,  and  a  stick  of 
dynamite  blew  him  cleanly  out  of  his 
seat.  It  is  one  of  the  sights  of  the  city — 
and  a  vivid  insight  into  Peruvian  char- 
acter. 

Electric  light  is  very  costly  in  Lima. 
But  long  festoons  of  incandescents  across 
the  Plaza  are  lit  for  celebrations,  day  as 
well  as  night,  while  the  presidential  pal- 
ace is  outlined  by  thousands  of  lights. 
Noting  this  love  of  illuminations,   one 


wonders  where  our  electrical  salesmen 
are  and  why  they  have  not  shown  all 
South  America  how  to  get  more  beauti- 
ful effects  with  half  the  current  through 
flood  lighting. 

Among  all  the  South  American  capi- 
tals, Lima  newspapers  carry  the  least 
cable  news  from  the  United  States, 
though  they  are  closest  to  New  York. 
Evidently  a  sales  job  for  our  press  asso- 
ciation, for  interest  in  our  affairs  is 
shown  in  the  large  amount  of  American 
mail  and  reprint  news. 

U.  S.  METHODS  IN  FAVOR 

T  IMA  is  in  earthquake  territory.  Sharp 
shocks  are  frequent.  It  is  a  cer- 
tainty that  some  time,  every  fifty  or  100 
years,  nature  will  damage  most  west- 
coast  cities.  But  there  is  an  earthquake 
philosophy.  There  are  only  two  kinds 
of  earthquakes.  The  frequent  shocks  do 
no  damage,  and  the  occasional  upheaval 
that  shakes  everything  down  will  prob- 
ably kill  you  quickly.  You  are  more 
likely  to  be  killed  by  an  automobile  or 
street  car  in  Lima's  narrow  streets.  So 
why  worry! 

"Right  out  of  the  Ladies'  Home  Jour- 
nal— I'll  bet  it  belongs  to  a  Yankee!" 
said  an  American  motoring  past  a  neat 
bungalow  in  a  Lima  suburb.  It  was 
complete  even  to  the  lawn — and  grow- 
ing a  lawn  in  Peru  is  some  job!  "No, 
that  house  has  just  been  finished  by  a 
Peruvian,"  replied  his  companion,  "and 


he  copied  it 
bodily  out  of  an 
American  maga- 
zine." 

An  American 
bought  a  lead  pencil  in  a  Japanese  store 
in  Lima.  It  looked  like  an  American 
brand,  but  was  an  imitation.  It  had 
half  an  inch  of  lead  in  each  end,  and  no 
more.  What  Japanese  are  trying  to  ac- 
complish through  such  fakes  may  be 
fathomed  only  by  the  Japanese  mind. 
Lima  has  probably  the  largest  Japanese 
merchant  colony  in  South  America,  and 
they  run  dozens  of  stores.  Japanese 
ships  bring  them  goods,  but,  rather 
curiously,  the  agencies  for  these  ships 
are  in  American  hands. 

Peruvian  farm  fencing,  along  the 
coast,  at  least,  is  made  of  dried  mud 
slabs,  a  yard  or  more  long,  two  feet 
wide,  and  piled  to  a  height  of  four  or  five 
feet. 

Ask  the  landowner  why  he  does  not 
use  barbed  wire  or  patent  fencing,  and 
he  will  tell  you  that  this  fence  is  built 
by  peons,  on  contract,  at  a  few  cents  a 
yard.  It  is  the  cheapest  fence  he  can 
get. 

An  American  woman  in  Miraflores, 
the  suburb  of  Lima,  wanted  a  refrigera- 
tor. The  only  one  she  could  buy  was 
priced  at  $60 — worth  about  one-third. 
There  were  some  queer  Japanese  imi- 
tations of  refrigerators,  however.  But 
when  she  ascertained  the  price  of  ice  she 
didn't    want    a     refrigerator — couldn't 


140 


PERU 


^^ss^sd^rjtes 


GENERAL,  VIEW   OF  LIMA.    PERU'S  CAPITAL  AND    CHIEF    SEAPORT 


afford  it.  Ice  costs  three  to  four  cents 
a  pound  in  Peru,  and  a  decent  month's 
supply  would  come  to  more  than  average 
rent  in  the  United  States.  The  ice 
wagon  is  no  generous  vehicle,  with  a 
step  for  bad  little  boys  to  hook  a  ride, 
as  at  home,  but  a  small,  tightly  closed 
cart,  something  like  that  used  for  deliv- 
ering compressed  yeast  to  our  grocers — 
and  the  cakes  of  ice  are  not  much  larger ! 
South  America  has  a  treat  ahead  of  it 
— abundant  ice  at  a  fair  price,  made  pos- 
sible by  a  broader  scheme  of  manufacture 
and  distribution. 

INTEREST  IN  AVIATION 

TN  LESS  than  a  month  of  demonstra- 
tion flying  an  American  aviator 
aroused  a  tremendous  interest  in  Lima, 
using  a  Curtiss  biplane.  It  was  a  buying 
interest,  for  various  organizations,  such 
as  the  association  of  electrical  employes 
in  Lima,  subscribed  money  to  purchase 
Curtiss  machines  to  be  given  to  the  gov- 
ernment. The  presentation  ceremonies 
in  such  cases  are  very  impressive,  the 
machines  being  blessed  before  use  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Peru.  Then,  in  January, 
a  French  aviation  mission  to  Peru  ar- 
rived on  the  ground,  and  still  greater 
interest  loomed  up.  But,  unfortunately, 
the  first  French  flight  resulted  in  a  dis- 
aster. The  machine  was  piloted  by  Colo- 
nel Du  Beaudiez,  who  had  been  a  pris- 
oner in  Germany  most  of  the  war  and 
who  was  believed  to  be  insufficiently  at 
home  in  the  control  of  later  machines. 
It  tumbled  at  a  height  of  less  than  100 
feet  and  both  occupants  were  killed.  This 
tragedy  threw  the  city  into  the  deepest 
gloom.  Interest  in  aviation  turned  into 
fear.  By  way  of  demonstrating  that  the 
French  accident  had  been  due  to  lack  of 
skill,  the  American  aviator,  Walter 
Peck,  kept  right  on  flying,  and  extended 
his  program.  On  the  day  the  French 
aviators  were  buried  he   flew  over  the 


city,  following  the  custom  developed  dur- 
ing the  war,  and  several  days  after 
started  a  series  of  air  "raids"  to  interior 
places,  which  not  only  demonstrated  the 
safety  of  sane  flying,  but  gave  new  audi- 
ences their  first  chance  to  see  aircraft  and 
air  stunts.  This  sensible  policy  is  rap- 
idly restoring  Peruvian  public  confidence 
in  aviation. 

There  are  probably  far  fewer  Eng- 
lish-speaking visitors  in  Lima  than  Span- 
ish-speaking visitors  to  the  hotel  and  the- 
atre district  of  New  York.  It  is  excep- 
tional to  find  anybody  in  New  York's 
business  center  who  can,  offhand,  an- 
swer a  question  in  Spanish.  But  in  Lima 
the  people  have  almost  universally 
learned  to  say  "thank  you"  in  English, 
and  to  give  figures  in  that  language,  and 
directions,  and  very  often  have  a  good 
conversational  knowledge  of  our  lan- 
guage, learned  almost  wholly  out  of 
books.  In  Europe,  this  could  be  inter- 
preted as  shopkeeping  enterprise,  but  in 
Peru  it  is  sheer  courtesy  to  the  stranger. 

A  "LUNA  PARK" NEEDED 

Y^/ITH  a  considerable  mileage  of  sea- 
coast  handy  to  Lima,  but  not  much 
in  the  way  of  beaches,  and  the  further 
drawback  of  the  cold  Humboldt  current 
to  discourage  bathing,  one  institution 
seems  to  be  badly  needed  during  the  sum- 
mer for  Lima  and  Callao.  That  is  a 
"Luna  Park"  on  American  lines,  with 
the  necessary  apparatus  for  speeding  up 
life.  The  seashore  resorts  within  half 
an  hour's  railroad  ride  from  the  capital 
are  not  the  boardwalk  affairs  patronized 
by  our  Jimmies  and  Mamies  on  Satur- 


day. For  the  Jaimes  and  Marias  of 
Lima  simply  haven't  got  the  price.  Trade 
Commissioner  Jackson  says  that  an 
amusement  resort  in  this  locality  is  one 
of  the  most  promising  investments  for 
American  capital. 

It  is  said  that  the  Japanese  who  made 
the  most  money  in  Lima  in  the  shortest 
time  was  one  who  bought  some  milk 
cows  and  began  supplying  good,  clean 
milk  to  British  and  American  families. 
The  first  dish  any  Yankee  wants,  after 
returning  from  a  trip  to  Latin  America, 
is  a  bowl  of  milk  and  crackers  in  one 
of  those  shiny  places  built  of  tile  and 
looking-glass.  Peruvian  milk  is  thin, 
dirty  and  vended  by  spacious  Indian  la- 
dies, who  sit  like  haystacks  upon  runty 
ponies,  surrounded  by  miscellaneous 
cans  that  date  from  the  times  of  the 
Incas.  So  far  as  the  Caucasian  baby  is 
concerned,  they  are  the  four  horseladies 
of  the  Apocalypse,  for  one  meal  of  their 
product  means  sudden  death.  When  the 
difficulty  of  raising  babies  under  such 
circumstances  is  understood,  the  sheer 
difficulty  of  finding  something  even  in  a 
drugstore  they  can  eat,  one  realizes  how 
the  clean,  enterprising  Japanese  milk- 
man made  a  quick  fortune. 

Both  the  Peruvians  and  the  Chileans 
love  ice  cream  in  greater  degree  than 
the  people  of  the  east  coast.  Instead  of 
taking  tea,  a  universal  South  American 
habit,  they  will  often  eat  a  glass  of  ice 
cream,  and  this  dainty  likewise  replaces 
alcoholic  hospitality  at  clubs  and  bars. 
But  they  have  still  to  learn  what  good  ice 
cream  can  be.  Made  from  condensed 
milk  and  substitutes,  in  countries  with- 
out dairying  industries,  their  product  is 
not  so  much  ice  cream  as  frozen  junket. 
Butterfat  it  has  not!  The  powdered- 
milk  demonstrator  is  needed  on  the  west 
coast,  showing  ice-cream  makers  what 
can  be  done  with  his  product  to  make 
velvety  cream,  and  there  are  undoubtedly 
openings  for  ice-cream  plants  able  to 
make  their  own  ice  economically. 


ARTICLE  LXXXIV 

PERU  JAIL  HAS  SPECIAL 
SPACE  FOR  EX-PRESIDENTS 

T  IMA,  Peru,  Feb.  12.— The  scarcest 
thing  in  Peru — a  flat  place!  Half 
its  area  is  mountain  slope,  country  for 
mules  and  goats,  rainless,  roadless, 
much  of  it  three  miles  in  the  air. 

And  here,  out  of  all  the  rich  Western 
Hemisphere,  developed  the  New  World's 
highest  civilization,  while  the  fertile 
plains  of  Brazil  and  Argentina  were 
populated  only  by  savages.  When  God 
wants  a  strong  race  He  cradles  it  in 
mountains,  among  obstacles.  Many  ages 
ago  He  reared  the  Aryan  race  in  Asia's 
mountains,  and  since,  out  of  five  conti- 
nents, it  has  overrun  four. 


PERU 


141 


The  history  of  Peru  really  begins  with 
a  gentleman  named  Francisco  Pizarro, 
of  Truxillo,  Spain,  who,  in  1524,  set 
out  from  Panama  to  investigate  rumors 
of  a  South  American  empire  richer  than 
Mexico,  abounding  in  gold  and  silver. 
It  took  eight  years  and  three  expeditions 
to  reach  it.  Then,  with  a  couple  of  hun- 
dred men,  Pizarro  landed  at  Tumbes, 
marched  to  Cajamarca,  met  the  Inca 
Atahualpa,  massacred  his  court  follow- 
ing, took  him  prisoner,  executed  him  and 
made  Peru  the  base  for  the  Spanish  con- 
quest and  rule  of  South  America.  Pi- 
zarro was  past  fifty  when  he  realized  his 
dream,  could  neither  read  nor  write,  and 
carried  out  his  plans  with  the  slenderest 
equipment.  From  some  standpoints  he 
was  a  genius  and  from  others  a  Hun. 
But  it  is  obvious  that  seizing  an  empire 
of  ten  to  twenty  million  people  with  one 
company  of  soldiers  called  for  some 
rough  stuff.  Ten  years  later  he  was 
killed  by  political  opponents  and  buried 
in  Lima,  the  city  which  he  founded. 
Latin  Americans  are  very  fond  of  monu- 
ments, but,  rather  oddly,  neither  Lima 
nor  Peru  has  ever  erected  a  monument 
to   Pizarro. 

Then  came  nearly  three  centuries  of 
Spanish  exploitation,  first  of  the  In- 
dians, who  were  worked  to  death  getting 
out  gold  and  silver,  and  later  of  the 
Spanish  colonists  themselves,  who  were 
held  in  Spain's  tight  little  protective 
system  of  trade  and  industry.  Among 
all  the  viceroys  and  politicians  of  those 
275  years  nobody  stands  out  particularly. 
The  chief  notables  were  writers  like  the 
Padre  Las  Casas,  champion  of  the  In- 
dians, and  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  whose 
father  was  Spanish  and  his  mother  of 
royal  Inca  blood,  and  who  has  left  the 
best  account  of  the  Inca  civilization. 
From  1569  right  down  to  1813  Peru  had 
a  healthy  inquisition,  which  burned  and 
flogged  heretics.  In  1780  a  descendant 
of  the  Incas,  Tupac  Amaru,  led  an  in- 
surrection of  the  Indians,  but  was  caught 
and  executed. 

BOLIVAR  THE  LIBERATOR 

HPHE  next  notables  were  Peru's  libera-  * 

tors,  San  Martin  and  Admiral 
Cochrane,  from  the  south,  and  Bolivar, 
from  the  north.  Most  of  the  seeds  of 
revolution  in  South  America  were 
planted  by  the  Spaniards  from  Peru — 
prohibitions  on  colonial  industries,  prohi- 
bitions on  trade  with  other  nations,  sup- 
pression of  printing  and  education,  long- 
distance government,  the  inquisi./on,  and 
so  forth.  And  Peru  was  also  the  last 
section  of  South  America  to  be  freed 
from  Spanish  rule.  San  Martin  and 
O'Higgins  worked  in  the  south,  liberat- 
ing Argentina  and  Chile,  and  Bolivar  in 
the  north,  freeing  Venezuela  and  Colom- 
bia. There  could  be  no  permanent  inde- 
pendence for  these  countries  until  Spanish 


power  in  Peru  was  destroyed.  So,  in 
1820,  San  Martin  landed  at  Pisco,  122 
miles  south  of  Lima,  proclaimed  liberty, 
defeated  a  Spanish  force  near  Cerro  de 
Pasco,  where  the  Yankees  are  mining 
copper  today,  and  on  July  28,  1821,  pro- 
claimed Peru's  independence  at  Lima, 
the  Spanish  viceroy  having  abdicated  and 
sailed  off  to  Spain.  Admiral  Cochrane 
helped  by  defeating  the  Spaniards  on  the 
ocean. 

San  Martin  became  the  protector  of 
Peru,  organized  a  government  and  a  con- 
gress, got  in  touch  with  Bolivar,  and  then 
resigned  and  went  home  to  Argentina. 
Peru  gave  him  the  title  "Founder  of  Lib- 
erty" and  a  pension,  but  the  latter  was 
purely  honorary.  He  never  got  it,  and 
after  freeing  three  countries — Argentina, 
Chile  and  Peru — died  in  poverty  in  1850. 

General  Simon  de  Bolivar  is  South 
America's  most  widely  known  liberator 
so  far  as  North  America  is  concerned, 
and  his  name  is  most  often  coupled  with 
that  of  Washington.  He  was  a  Vene- 
zuelan, of  noble  Spanish  descent,  believed 
to  have  had  a  tincture  of  Indian  blood, 
born  in  Caracas  in  1783,  and  baptized 
"Simon  Jose  Antonio  de  la  Santisima 
Trinidad."     A  bright,  willful  little  kid. 


left  an  orphan,  an  eccentric  philosopher 
named  Simon  Rodriguez  taught  him  the 
love  of  liberty  along  with  the  three  R's 
and  the  Spanish  irregular  verbs,  and  he 
also  went  to  school  to  Andres  Bello, 
afterward  Chile's  famous  scholar.  He 
ran  wild  and  grew  hard  in  the  country, 
and  at  fourteen  was  a  soldier.  At  six- 
teen he  went  to  Spain,  became  a  wor- 
shiper of  Napoleon,  had  his  love  of  lib- 
erty restimulated  by  Rodriguez  and  took 
an  oath  to  liberate  South  America.  Trou- 
ble had  already  started  in  Venezuela. 
Bolivar  got  into  it  in  1813,  rose  quickly 
to  command  of  the  patriot  forces,  became 
dictator  of  Venezuela,  freed  Colombia, 
and  in  1823  arrived  in  Lima  to  finish 
San  Martin's  job.  There  was  still  a 
Spanish  army  in  the  interior.  Bolivar 
defeated  it  at  the  battle  of  Junin,  estab- 
lished Bolivia  as  a  separate  country,  was 
made  perpetual  president  of  Peru,  and 
in  1827  retired  to  Colombia. 

One  of  Bolivar's  comrades  was  Anto- 
nio Jose  de  Sucre,  born  in  Venezuela  but 
counted  a  Peruvian  patriot  because  his 
military  genius,  even  more  than  that  of 
Bolivar  himself,  defeated  the  Spanish. 
Sucre  was  made  first  president  of  Bolivia, 
but  soon  retired  to  Colombia. 

WARS  WERE  SAVAGE 

TPHE  next  outstanding  event  in  Peru's 
history  was  the  war  with  Chile, 
Bolivia  being  Peru's  ally.  In  savage 
fighting,  this  was  a  first-rate  war.  Chile 
had  less  population  than  the  allies  and  a 


HOTEL    MAURYWITH    ON    LIMA'S    PRINCIPAL  STREET 


142 


PERU 


weaker  navy.  But  she  was  strong  in 
preparation  and  fighting  material,  struck 
quick  and  hard  and  in  the  four  years, 
from  1879  to  1883,  destroyed  Peru's 
navy,  seized  her  ports,  was  prevented 
only  by  intervention  from  burning  Lima 
and  finally  emerged  with  the  nitrate 
provinces  which  had  belonged  to  Peru 
and  Bolivia.  While  the  armies  engaged 
were  small,  casualties  were  enormous 
both  on  land  and  sea.  Peru  has  its  naval 
hero  in  Admiral  Grau,  who  was  killed  in 
battle  some  months  after  sinking  the 
Chilean  naval  hero,  Captain  Arturo 
Prat.  That  war  left  one  of  the  worst 
sore  spots  in  South  America,  the  Tacna 
question.  The  peace  treaty  gave  the 
province  of  Tacna  to  Chile  for  ten  years, 
when  further  possession  was  to  be  de- 
termined by  a  vote  of  the  inhabitants. 
But  no  agreement 
has  been  reached 
as  to  who  shall 
vote,  or  when,  or 
how  the  ballots  are 
to  be  cast.  Nobody 
knows  which  way 
the  vote  might  go, 
for  many  Chileans 
now  live  in  that 
region  and  there 
are  complexities  of 
investments  an  d 
property  to  be 
dealt  with. 

Since  that  war 
Peru  has  had  sev- 
e  r  a  1  revolutions 
and  coups  d'etat, 
the  worst  of  which 
occurred  in  1893, 
with  fighting  i  n 
the  streets  of 
Lima,  and  the 
latest  last  Fourth 
of  July,  when 
President  P  a  r  d  o 
was  displaced  and 
exiled.  These  af- 
fairs now  take  place  between  warring 
political  factions,  without  involving  the 
people.  There  is  a  special  apartment  in 
the  Lima  penitentiary  where  presidents 
of  Peru  sometimes  find  themselves  con- 
fined, perhaps  with  the  cabinet,  and  on 
occasions  a  few  guards  have  been  hurt  or 
killed  in  changing  the  administration  by 
force.  *  But  human  life  is  a  good  deal 
safer  during  a  revolution  in  Lima  than 
during  a  strike  in  New  York,  and 
politics  do  not  interfere  with  the  progress 
of  the  country. 

The  present  president  of  Peru  is 
Augusto  B.  Leguia.  He  held  the  office 
from  1908  to  1912.  In.1909,  however, 
the  palace  guards  were  attacked,  the  pres- 
ident seized  and  his  resignation  demanded 
at  the  point  of  a  revolver.     He  refused 


to  sign  and  was  rescued.  In  1913  politi- 
cal opponents  exiled  him  from  the  coun- 
try. Five  years  later  he  returned,  and 
last  July  seized  President  Jose  Pardo, 
with  several  of  his  ministers,  who  were 
imprisoned.  There  was  no  bloodshed. 
Leguia  was  president-elect  and  would 
have  taken  office  in  another  month.  His 
action  was  taken  in  fear  that  a  hostile 
congress  might  annul  his  election,  and 
also  because  the  administration  had  seized 
a  newspaper  favorable  to  him.  Senor 
Leguia's  record  during  his  first  admin- 
istration was  excellent.  He  carried  out 
public  works,  settled  boundary  disputes, 
prevented  hostilities  between  Peru  and 
Chile  and  was  thoroughly  capable  and 
progressive.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  war 
with  Chile,  and  after  that  a  business 
man,  being  at  one  time  general  manager 


PERU'S  WHITE  HOUSE— THE  GOVERNMENT  PALACE 

of  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  Co.  in 
Peru,  Ecuador  and  Chile,  and  then  or- 
ganized one  of  the  largest  sugar  compa- 
nies in  the  country,  which  he  managed 
until  made  president. 


ARTICLE  LXXXV 

DIRECT  BUYING  SAVED 
FIVE  PROFITS  FOR  MILL 

T  IMA,  Peru,  Feb.  14.— Taken  out  oi 
a  Boston  bank  at  five  minutes'  no- 
tice and  hustled  down  to  Peru  to  buy  cot- 
ton for  a  New  Hampshire  mill — that 
was  what  happened  to  Clarence  A.  Fisk 
when  we  got  into  the  war  three  years 
ago.  He  departed  with  a  beautiful  ig- 
norance of  cotton,  Peru  and  cotton  mills, 
but  that  was  in  his  favor,   because  the 


business   had    to    be    learned    from    the 
ground  up. 

For  years  the  Wonalancet  mill  at 
Nashua,  N.  H.,  had  been  buying  Peru- 
vian cotton  through  an  agent  in  Piura- 
Because  it  had  characteristics  like  no 
other  cotton  in  the  world  it  had  become 
indispensable  in  the  company's  product. 
There  was  reason  to  believe  that  the  con- 
cern with  which  the  mill  had  been  doing 
business  in  Peru  was  German  and  that 
our  entry  into  the  war  would  prevent 
further  dealings.  So  Harry  H.  Blunt, 
Wonalancet's  executive,  borrowed  Fisk 
from  the  bank  and  sent  him  off  to  estab- 
lish new  connections.  He  is  still  in  Peru 
and  his  experience  shows  the  value  of 
direct  dealing  in  import  as  well  as  export 
matters. 

The  buying  of   Peruvian  cotton  had 
been  in  British  and 
German     hands. 
This      particular 
variety       brings 
prices  50  per  cent 
higher    than    our 
own  cotton  on  ac- 
count of   its  pecu- 
liar quality.  Profits 
tacked    on    by   the 
buyers     were     not 
only    outrageous, 
but  addition- 
al     profits     were 
taken  by  interven- 
i  n  g      middlemen. 
Through    direct 
purchases     it     has 
been    possible    not 
only    to    assure 
plentiful      supplies 
from  the  cream  of 
the    crop,    but    to 
eliminate   five    dif- 
ferent   profits    be- 
tween   the      field 
and  the  mill.    We 
take  about  60  per 
cent  of   the   whole 
crop    of    "rough 
Peruvian"— 4,000,000      to      5,000,000 
pounds.     England  takes  virtually  all  the 
rest.    While  the  Germans  were  not  ac- 
tive as  exporters,  they  sent  hardly  100,- 
000  pounds  to   the   fatherland.     When 
you  cut   five  profits  out  of  a   turnover 
like  that,  with  the  stuff  running  to  sixty- 
five  cents  a  pound,   it  mounts   up   into 
money. 

OF  ANCIENT  VINTAGE 

DERU  grows  several  varieties  of  cotton, 
but  Peruvian  rough  is  the  most  fa- 
mous. Our  British  cousins  are  always 
specific  in  speaking  of  the  great  American 
fiber,  calling  it  "cotton  wool."  Peruvian 
rough  is  real  cotton  wool,  because  its  fiber 
is  kinky  and  wool-like,  and  spinners  find 
it  peculiarly  suitable  for  flannels  and 
mixed  fabrics.     It  is  the  wool  spinners' 


PERU 


143 


cotton  par  excellence,  and  20  per  cent  of 
it  incorporated  with  wool  gives  a  fabric 
of  homogeneous  character.  It  has  a  sta- 
ple averaging  one  and  three-eighths  inches 
in  length,  a  diameter  about  twice  that  of 
Texas  cotton  an,d  a  harsh  quality  like 
wool,  and  is  seldom  spun  in  the  United 
States  except  as  a  mixture  with  wool, 
that  being  its  best  use.  It  is  almost  uni- 
versally spun  on  woolen  machinery. 

This  was  the  cotton  of  the  Incas,  na- 
tive to  the  country.  Other  varieties  now 
grown  in  Peru  were  introduced  by  the 
Spaniards.  With  millions  of  people  to 
clothe  and  abundant  labor  for  farming 
and  irrigation  works,  the  Inca  crops  must 
have  been  many  times  larger  than  Peru's 
whole  output  of  cotton  today.  Fabrics 
made  from  this  staple  have  been  found  in 
graves  in  the  most  remote  parts  of  the 
old  Inca  empire, 
and  after  supply- 
ingtheir  own  need: 
the  Incas  undoubt- 
edly sold  cotton  to 
neighboring  peo- 
ples in  the  terri- 
tory that  is  now 
Brazil,  Chile  and 
even  Argentina. 
Far  over  on  the 
Amazon,  in  old 
graves,  have  been 
found  mummies 
wrapped  in  cloth 
made  of  this  char- 
acteristic Peruvian 
cotton,  quite  dif- 
ferent from  the  fine 
cottons  native  to 
Brazil,  and  beside 
them  spindles  and 
shuttles  o  f  stone, 
with  which  it  was 
spun  and  woven. 

True  Peruvian 
rough  comes  from 
a  limited  area  in 
the     department 

of  Piura,  irrigated  by  the  Chira  and 
Piura  rivers,  and  is  shipped  from  the 
port  Payta.  When  the  plant  is  grown 
in  other  regions,  its  character  changes  to 
the  inferior  "semi-rough,"  which  is  a 
shorter  staple  and  lacks  the  wiry  harsh- 
ness which  makes  the  true  rough  Peru- 
vian so  suitable  for  mixed  fabrics. 

COTTON  PROGRESSING 

TPHE  plant  is  remarkable,  not  a  bush, 
but  a  tree.  It  will  live  and  bear 
for  more  than  twenty  years,  though  the 
largest  crops  are  obtained  by  replanting 
every  six  or  seven  years.  Left  to  nature, 
it  often  attains  a  height  of  twenty-five 
feet,  a  diameter  of  thirty  feet  and  two 
to  three  feet  in  trunk  girth.  It  has  a  root 
system  running  out  twenty  to  thirty  feet 
to  maturity  and  far  down  into  the  soil, 
so  that  it  thrives  a  year  or  more  without 


water.  Rain  seldom  falls  in  the  region 
where  it  grows,  but  the  rivers  begin  flow- 
ing when  the  snow  melts  on  the  Andes 
in  February  and  moisture  is  provided  for 
the  year  by  irrigation.  Heavy  dews,  al- 
most equal  to  soft  rains,  also  provide 
moisture.  There  are  two  crops  yearly, 
in  July  and  November,  and  although 
grown  in  a  desert  climate  this  variety  is 
planted  on  rich  soil,  composed  of  silt 
washed  down  from  the  mountains.  For 
that  reason,  and  also  because  the  plant  is 
found  growing  wild  east  of  the  Andes, 
there  is  a  fine  prospect  for  increasing 
Peru's  output  in  the  rich  lands  of  the 
montana  country  when  railroads  connect 
them  with  the  world.  The  irrigated 
coast  lands  rich  enough  for  growing 
rough  Peruvian  are  limited  to  extent, 
the  best  amounting  to  only  about  20,000 


THE    BONES    OF    FRANCISCO    PIZARRO.     CONQUEROR    OF   PERU,    MAT    BE    SEEN 
THROUGH  A  GLASS-PANED  URN  IN  LIMA  CATHEDRAL 

acres.  Nature  made  this  belt  ages  ago 
by  washing  down  two  to  sixty  feet  of 
loam,  then  planting  it  with  trees  that 
both  gather  nitrogen  and  yield  enormous 
amounts  of  vegetable  mold,  and  finally 
handed  it  over  to  the  Incas,  or  probably 
the  Great  Chimu  before  them,  that  mys- 
terious and  more  highly  civilized  race  of 
unknown  antiquity  which  the  Incas  con- 
quered. 

Peru  is  ambitious  to  increase  her  cotton 
output,  not  only  of  the  rough  variety,  in 
which  she  has  virtually  a  monopoly,  but 
Egyptian  and  sea  island,  which  are  raised 
in  other  parts  of  the  country.  Once 
wealthy  with  her  nitrate  beds,  which 
have  gone  to  Chile  since  the  war  forty 
years  ago,  Peru  earns  her  bread  pretty 
much  by  the  sweat  of  her  brow.  Metals 
make  up  her  biggest  export   item,   and 


sugar  and  cotton  come  next,  with  cot- 
ton now  slightly  in  the  lead,  and  after 
that  wool  and  hides.  Only  in  Arizona 
and  China  has  the  rough  Peruvian  cot- 
ton been  raised.  The  Arizona  experi- 
ment is  declared  successful,  with  good 
fiber  of  the  wool-like  type,  but  insignifi- 
cant production.  The  Chinese  fiber,  on 
the  contrary,  deteriorates  to  a  short  sta- 
ple like  the  Peruvian  "semi-rough." 

But  in  the  effort  to  increase  her  cotton 
crop  Peru  is  doing  an  unwise  thing. 

INDIANS  RETROGRESSIVE 

yiRTUALLY  the  only  labor  available 
is  that  of  the  Cholo  Indians,  who 
make  up  the  bulk  of  the  population,  and 
who  live  chiefly  at  high  altitudes. 
Through  generations  these  Indians  have 
acquired  great  lung  and  heart  capacity, 
to  live  in  the  rarefied  air  where  the  lungs 
and  heart  of  a 
person  accustomed 
to  sea  level  must 
do  double  work. 
When  brought 
down  into  the  cot- 
ton and  sugar 
fields  near  the 
coast  they  quickly 
die  of  lung  trouble. 
Peru  also  has  a 
virtual  monopoly 
in  another  fiber — 
wool  of  fine  qual- 
ity from  the  alpaca 
and  the  vicuna. 
The  alpaca  is  a 
relative  of  the 
llama,  that  curious 
compromise 
between  camel  and 
goat,  but  has  a 
shorter  neck  and 
head.  Its  wool  is 
more  than  eight 
inches  long  and 
fetches  twice  the 
price  of  sheep's 
wool.  Peru  sup- 
plies three-quarters  of  the  world's  con- 
sumption. The  vicuna  is  wild,  living  in 
herds  high  in  the  mountains,  but  has 
been  crossed  with  the  alpaca  in  the 
"paco-vicuna,"  which  is  domesticated. 
Vicuna  wool  is  almost  as  fine  as  silk, 
and  brings  eight  times  as  much  as  sheep's 
wool.  Paco-vicuna  wool  is  a  new  addi- 
tion to  the  world's  fine  fibers,  with  the 
length  of  the  alpaca  and  the  silkiness  of 
the  vicuna. 

The  llama  also  yields  wool,  carries 
burdens,  picks  up  his  own  living  on  the 
mountainside  and  can  beat  the  camel 
when  it  comes  to  going  without  a  drink. 
It  is  to  the  Cholo  Indians  what  the  mule 
is  to  a  darky  or  the  pig  to  an  Irishman. 
Its  dried  dung  supplies  much  of  the  fuel 
used  in  the  mountains.  It  will  carry  a 
load  of  seventyfive  to  one  hundred 
pounds,  but  file  a  protest  if  loaded  beyond 


144 


PERU 


the  standard  it  has  set  for  itself.  It  is 
almost  the  fireside  companion  of  the 
Cholo,  and  like  himself  an  ingrained  con- 
servative. 

One  of  the  paradoxes  of  Peruvian  rail- 
roading is  that  when  the  Cholo  gets 
ready  to  sell  his  wool  clip  he  loads  it 
upon  llamas  and  takes  it  to  Arequipa. 
He  may  live  200  miles  from  that  mar- 
ket and  it  will  take  him  days  to  make  the 
round  trip.  Every  mile  of  the  way  prob- 
ably lies  right  alongside  a  railroad.  He 
could  have  shipped  his  wool  by  rail  or 
got  the  same  price  for  it  at  home,  for  the 
Arequipa  buyers  pay.  But  thus  he  did 
in  the  Inca's  time,  and  thus  he  will  do 
regardless  of  progress.   Whether  follow- 


watches  for  an  opportunity  to  buy  dol- 
lars with  his  letter  of  credit,  and  in  the 
absence  of  a  stock  market  the  speculator 
plays  the  peso,  the  pound  and  the  dollar 
against  each  other  for  a  profit. 

In  Lima  the  newspapers  seldom  pub- 
lish exchange  figures,  and  when  they  do, 
by  an  odd  perversion,  they  are  always 
wrong.  For  the  banks  have  an  agree- 
ment among  themselves  to  keep  the  real 
rates  in  confidence,  for  their  own  advan- 
tage, and  the  newspaper  rates  are  "doc- 
tored," and  the  real  rate  can  be  got  only 
by  shopping  from  bank  to  bank. 

Perhaps  you  wonder  why  you  should 
worry  about  this  obscure,  far-off  subject 


In  its  financial  naivete  New  York  was 
delighted.  "The  dollar  is  worth  more 
than  any  other  money,"  it  said  jubi- 
lantly. "We  have  the  best  money  in  the 
world !"  But  suddenly  it  became  clear 
that,  in  buying  our  products,  people  in 
other  countries  had  to  buy  our  dear  dol- 
lars with  their  depreciated  money — 
which  made  it  hard  to  sell.  Hurriedly 
the  Edge  bill  was  passed  by  Congress, 
making  it  possible  for  private  business 
interests  to  extend  satisfactory  credits  to 
customers  abroad. 

Your  goods  have  been  going  to  Peru 
since  1916.  You  have  a  distributor 
there.  The  yearly  aggregate  is  quite 
tidy  and  gives  you  no  trouble  or  selling 


MODERN    LIMA    MAKES    UP    FOR    THE    NARROW   STREETS   DESIGNED  BY  PIZARRO 


ing  the  habit  of  generations  or  because 
he  likes  the  excitement  of  going  to  town, 
the  freight  traffic  solution  of  a  Peruvian 
railroad  has  a  tough  prospect  in  the 
Cholo — some  time  during  the  next  three 
or  four  centuries  it  may  land  his  busi- 
ness! 


ARTICLE  LXXXVI 

EXCHANGE  GAMBLING  ARM 
OF  BUSINESS  IN  PERU 

T  IMA,  Peru,  Feb.  16.— "What  is  ex- 
change today?"  This  is  the  con- 
stant inquiry  of  all  Latin  America.  The 
merchant  hopes  for  a  favorable  rate  when 
he  has    to  take  up  his  draft,  the  traveler 


of  exchange — you  with  your  factory  a 
thousand  miles  from  tidewater. 

But  listen ! 

Suppose  the  exchange  rate  in  Lima 
and  other  capitals  suddenly  canceled  all 
your  South  American  sales.  That  hap- 
pened lately  with  a  shipment  to  Peru  of 
wire  rope.  Our  price  was  lowest  when 
it  was  bought,  but  a  shift  in  the  exchange 
made  it  cheaper  in  another  country,  and 
the  order  went  there,  while  the  Ameri- 
can wire  rope  was  rejected. 

It  begins  with  the  British  pound  ster- 
ling. The  peg  which  sustained  its  value 
during  the  war  was  pulled  out.  Ster- 
ling sagged  toward  $4,  then  below 
it.  The  franc  and  mark  likewise  de- 
clined,  while   the  dollar   rose  in   value. 


expense.    World  trade?    By  all  means! 
An  excellent  thing  for  the  country. 

But  today  when  your  distributor  in 
Lima  takes  1000  libras  of  his  good  Peru- 
vian money  to  the  bank  in  paying  for 
goods  he  can  buy  only  $4.75  with  each 
libra,  while  British  pounds  cost  him 
about  $3.75.  Thus,  while  the  actual 
price  of  British  goods  may  be  higher,  his 
1000  libras  will  buy  more  British  money 
to  pay  for  them.  That  is  why  your  Lima 
distributor  is  turning  to  British  and  Eu- 
ropean goods,  and  many  a  war  connec- 
tion between  American  manufacturers 
and  British  houses  in  Latin  America  is 
being  broken.  And  so  foreign  exchange 
becomes  something  more  than  an  aca- 
demic proposition  in  the  corn  belt. 


PERU 


145 


DERU  is  the  first  country  in  South 
America  visited  by  the  writer  in 
which  tariff  duty  is  charged  on  type- 
writers taken  in  for  personal  use.  The 
rate  is  twenty-six  soles  ($13  United 
States  currency)  for  each  machine,  and 
the  money  is  not  returned  on  leaving  the 
country.  The  visitor,  however,  has  the 
option  of  leaving  his  machine  in  the 
customs  house,  getting  it  back  when  he 
departs.  Most  Americans  are  disposed 
to  argue  the  justice  of  this  tariff  with 
the  customs  inspectors.  One  Yankee 
debated  it  twenty  minutes,  but,  of  course, 
the  inspector  had  not  made  the  law  and 
could  not  change  it,  and,  in  the  end,  he 
indignantly  handed  over  his  money  be- 
cause he  needed  his  typewriter.  An- 
other Yankee  then  addressed  the  inspec- 
tor with  the  courteous  "Senor,"  opened 
up  his  typewriter,  showed  that  the  space 
bar  was  worn,  and  stated  that  it  was 
second  hand,  value  was  $60 — 120  Peru- 
vian soles.  The  inspector  exclaimed, 
"ah!"  and  took  him  to  another  official, 
who  made  a  quick  calculation  and  cut 
the  duty  down  to  fifteen  soles — $7.50 
United  States  currency.  Thus  the  duty 
amounted  to  no  more  than  he  would  have 
had  to  pay  for  a  rented  machine,  even 
could  one  have  been  secured.  Latin- 
American  tariff  schedules  are  highly  di- 
versified. Nobody  knows  where  they 
will  hit  his  pocketbook  next.  Very  often 
they  seem  unjust,  but  it  does  not  pay  to 
argue  them.  On  the  whole,  they  are  as 
reasonable  as  our  own  and,  so  far  as 
they  touch  the  traveler,  administered 
with  more  consideration  and  courtesy. 

'"PHERE  is  probably  more  coal  in  Peru 
than  in  any  other  South  American 
country,  yet  the  republic  imports  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  tons  yearly,  and 
the  domestic  output  is  negligible.  In 
normal  times  British  coal  was  laid  down 
in  Lima  for  $7  to  $8  a  ton,  and  as  most 
of  the  Peruvian  deposits  are  at  high  alti- 
tudes and  not  connected  with  railroads, 
the  country  bought  its  fuel  abroad.  But 
today  coal,  when  obtainable  at  all  from 
England  or  the  United  States,  costs  $40. 
to  $50  a  ton  in  Peru,  and  this  has  led  to 
interest  in  mining.  One  of  the  railroad 
companies  being  promoted  has  three  de- 
posits of  good  steam  coal  at  low  alti- 
tude and  near  the  coast.  Plans  are  being 
made  to  mine  300,000  tons  yearly.  Con- 
venience to  the  coast,  with  moderate 
labor  cost,  will  make  it  possible,  it  is  fig- 
ured, to  deliver  coal  at  tidewater  for  $3 
a  ton  and  sell  it  for  $40.  If  the  world 
shortage  keeps  prices  up  to  that  level 
for  a  few  years,  profits  on  this  enterprise 
will  run  into  tens  of  millions.  Profits  of 
that  magnitude  have  actually  been  made 
by  the  Chilean  mines.  When  coal  was 
$10  a  ton  in  Peru  a  local  company  got 
some  money  together  and  drilled  for  coal 
in  a  coast  section  where  there  was  reason 


to  believe  it  existed.  At  a  depth  of  300 
feet  a  seven-foot  vein  of  fine  steam  coal 
was  cut.  More  money  was  put  into  the 
enterprise  and  a  shaft  started,  but  the 
work  proved  very  costly,  and  the  profit 
in  sight  then  did  not  encourage  the  in- 
vestors in  going  ahead.  Today,  however, 
this  enterprise  has  been  resumed — had 
it  been  carried  out  at  the  beginning,  mak- 
ing coal  available  the  last  five  years, 
profits  would  have  been  enormous.  If 
Peru  can  become  South  America's  coal 
dealer  she  may  have  a  source  of  wealth 
comparable  with  the  nitrate  beds  surren- 
dered to  Chile. 

#  ♦  ♦ 

A  BOUT  twenty-five  years  ago  the 
Peruvian  Congress  passed  a  law  re- 
quiring foreign  insurance  companies  do- 
ing business  in  the  country  to  deposit 
$15,000  each  with  the  government  as  a 
guarantee  fund.    The  companies,  chiefly 

British,  regarded  this  as  a  "hold-up" 
and  withdrew,  believing  that  the  Peru- 
vians would  change  their  law  when  they 
found  themselves  without  fire,  marine 
and  other  protection.  But  the  Peru- 
vians organized  insurance  companies  of 
their  own,  wrote  policies  at  lower  prem- 
iums and  discovered  that  there  were 
profits  of  25  to  50  per  cent  in  the  busi- 
ness. After  a  year  all  the  foreign  com- 
panies came  back,  depositing  the  required 
guarantee  fund.  Then  a  new  law  was 
passed  requiring  every  foreign  insurance 
company  to  have  a  capital  of  $100,000, 
half  to  be  invested  in  Peruvian  land 
and  half  in  Peruvian  bonds,  deposited 
as  a  guarantee.  Again  the  foreign  com- 
panies withdrew,  and  now  insurance, 
apart  from  life,  is  a  thriving  business  that 
Peruvians,  mostly,  handle  themselves. 
*      *      *  , 

A  BUSHEL  of  American  school  cata- 
logues wandered  into  the  office  of 
the  United  States  trade  commissioner  in 
Lima.  They  came  from  all  sorts  of  in- 
stitutions that  had  either  imagination  in 
the  faculty  or  experience  with  Latin- 
American  students — universities,  col- 
leges, boarding  schools.  In  a  little  while 
every  catalogue  was  gone,  snapped  up 
and  taken  away  by  young  Peruvians  and 
their  parents  interested  in  sending  Juan 
or  Juanita  to  the  states  to  study.  Carl- 
ton Jackson,  the  trade  commissioner,  is 


now  seeking  another  and  more  represent- 
ative supply.  South  America  is  ready  for 
school  advertising  by  American  institu- 
tions and  the  forwarding  of  catalogues 
through  some  agency  in  each  country  as 
soon  as  somebody  organizes  such  a  serv- 
ive  on  lines  followed  by  some  of  our  own 
newspaper  and  magazine  publishers. 


\\7HEN  you  pay  your  fare  on  a  Lima 
street  car  the  conductor  gives  you 
an  apparently  worthless  slip  of  paper,  re- 
sembling a  transfer.  Perhaps  you  throw 
it  away.  Within  two  or  three  minutes, 
however,  an  inspector  will  hop  on  to  the 
car  and  go  through  it,  asking  for  these 
slips,  from  which  he  tears  a  piece,  and  if 
yours  is  gone  you  must  pay  another  fare. 
On  some  lines  the  street  cars  carry  an 
inspector  who  is  a  fixture,  like  the  con- 
ductor. This  system  of  "fiscalizing"  fare 
receipts  is  general  in  South  America. 
Trolley  managers  there  have  apparently 
not  heard  about  the  study  given  to  one- 
man  street  cars  in  the  United  States  for 
the  purpose  of  cutting  operating  costs, 
nor  about  fare  registers  and  cash  boxes. 
It  is  true  that  labor  on  the  southern  con- 
tinent is  cheaper  than  with  us,  so  that 
three  men  manning  a  car  might  cost  less 
than  two  in  the  United  States.  But  the 
"fiscal"  system  does  not  look  as  though 
it  really  gave  protection,  and  in  the  re- 
habilitation of  Latin-American  street 
railways  that  will  undoubtedly  take  place 
in  the  next  few  years  these  devices 
might  find  a  considerable  market. 


ARTICLE  LXXXVII 

PERU  HAS  AN  EXHIBIT 

OF  EXPORT  CROOKEDNESS 

J^IMA,  Peru,  Feb.  18.— They  spoke  of 
the  theatre  seats  with  a  certain  glee, 
like  boys,  yet  also  tactfully,  because  they 
were  Britons,  and  the  listener  a  Yankee, 
and  those  seats  were  from  Chicago. 
Among  the  export  sights  of  Lima  the 
seats  should  not  be  missed.  To  preserve 
the  international  relations,  the  Britons 
wound  up  by  saying  that  the  theatre  pro- 
prietor's real  preference  had  been  for 
German  seats,  anyway,  because  the  Ger- 
mans had  treated  him  so  well  in  other 
matters  before  the  war. 

The  listener  went  to  see  them  at  the 
Teatro  Olimpo,  which  is  a  sight  in  itself, 
because  the  proprietor  has  virtually  built 
a  national  opera  house  as  a  private  en- 
terprise during  the  war,  putting  a  mil- 
lion dollars  of  his  own  money  into  it. 

Senor  M.  M.  Forero  is  a  Lima  at- 
torney, with  a  son,  who  enlisted  in  our 
army  during  the  war,  studying  scientific 
agriculture  in  the  United  States.  His 
theatre  has  been  under  construction  four 
years.  It  will  open  next  July  with  opera 
— perhaps  Caruso.  He  has  built  it 
partly    out    of    catalogues.      A    French 


146 

architect's  errors  cost  him  $50,000, 
whereupon  he  bought  several  thousand 
dollars'  worth  of  books  and  plans,  stud- 
ied theatre  construction  himself  and  re- 
designed the  building  with  a  young  Peru- 
vian architect.  Likewise  he  got  hun- 
dreds of  catalogues  from  the  United 
States,  and  selected  fittings  and  mate- 
rials, chandeliers,  drop-curtain  apparatus, 
interior  telephones,  electric  fixtures, 
things  for  safety  like  metal  conduits  for 
electrical  wires,  things  of  cleanliness  and 
beauty  like  encaustic  tile  resembling  ala- 
baster and  virtually  unknown  in  the  tile- 
loving  southern  countries  which  know 
only  the  product  made  by  pouring  com- 
mon cement,  colored  different  tints,  into 
a  patterned  mold.  With  many  of  these 
products  he  fell  in  love  at  first  sight,  but 
not  with  the  business  methods  of  their 
makers. 

EXHIBIT  OF  CROOKEDNESS 

/^UT  of  a  catalogue  he  selected  his 
seats.  A  Chicago  company  sent  him 
a  sample.  It  had  a  well-finished  semi- 
steel  frame,  upholstered  with  leather  and 
the  monogram  of  the  theatre  upon  its 
back.  Chicago  demanded  that  a  credit 
be  opened  in  that  city  and  the  seats  paid 
for  before  shipment.  He  complied  with 
these  conditions  and  placed  his  order. 

The  seats  arrived.  The  frames  were 
cast  iron,  gaudily  decorated  with  early 
North  German  Lloyd  effects.  More  than 
50  per  cent  of  them  were  broken.  There 
was  no  monogram  on  the  back.  They 
were  upholstered  in  imitation  leather, 
and  that  had  been  wrapped  in  newspapers 
which  stuck  to  the  fabric  under  the 
sweating  climate  of  the  tropics.  They 
arrived  two  years  ago,  yet  from  that  day 
to  this,  despite  promises,  he  has  been  un- 
able to  get  redress  or  replacement  from 
the  Chicago  concern.  Other  shipments 
of  material  have  arrived  from  the  United 
States  in  bad  condition,  due  to  bad  pack- 
ing. Many  of  the  beautiful  tile  were 
chipped,  glassware  broken,  nails  driven 
through  silk  curtains  by  shipping  clerks, 
freight  bills  increased  by  the  use  of  sec- 
ond-hand boxes  twice  as  large  as  neces- 
sary. 

For  years  we  have  heard  the  story  of 
bad  packing  again  and  again.  This  is 
a  story,  not  of  bad  packing,  but  down- 
right crookedness.  If  you  could  inspect 
this  miscellaneous  stuff  in  Lima,  see  the 
damage,  substitution  and  bad  faith  and 
talk  with  the  man  who  had  been  robbed 
of  his  money,  you  would  not  be  very 
proud  of  your  country  or  your  country- 
men. 

During  the  war  a  new  industry  sprang 
up  in  the  United  States — that  of  push- 
button exporting.  Manufacturers  has- 
tily organized  export  departments  which 
were  topheavy  on  the  selling  side,  but 
shy  when  it  came  to  delivering  the  goods. 
Once  the  customer  abroad  had  paid  his 


PERU 

money  they  pushed  a  button  and  let 
George  do  the  rest.  Hundreds  of  mush- 
room export  houses  sprang  up,  sending 
out'  samples  of  merchandise,  and  when 
orders  came  from  other  countries  the 
push  button  was  likewise  pressed  and 
George  left  to  do  his  worst. 

For  some  reason  the  Peruvians  seem 
to  have  been  victimized  more  than  any- 
body else  in  Latin  America  by  these 
crooked  concerns.  There  are  probably 
less  than  a  hundred  Americans  in  Lima, 
and  no  chamber  of  commerce  or  business 
organization  to  arbitrate  damage  and 
dishonesty.  We  have  a  consul  and  a  trade 
commissioner  in  Lima.  Both  have  been 
kept  busy  with  the  troubles  arising  from 
American    concerns    that    are    crooked 


"JOSELITO,"    PERU'S    LEADING    MATADOR 

through  and  through,  or  while  reputable 
at  home  are  incompetent  or  dishonest  out- 
side the  three-mile  limit. 

FRAUD  IN  SAMPLES 

J^  NEW  YORK  jobbing  house  dis- 
tributed samples  of  hosiery  among 
the  Lima  importers.  It  is  an  old  con- 
cern of  good  reputation.  One  sample  of 
cotton  socks  at  $2  a  dozen  was  excellent 
value.  An  American  importer  in  Lima 
ordered  400  dozen  pair.  He  received 
four  jute  bags  filled  with  seconds  and 
thirds  of  eighty-cent  quality  socks,  many 
of  which  were  worn  and  torn.  Some- 
body had  organized  for  world  trade  up 
to  the  point  of  landing  the  order  and  the 


money  and  then  pressed  the  button,  and 
George  had  shipped  an  outrageous  as- 
sortment of  "jobs." 

Another  Lima  importer  ordered  10,- 
000  pounds  of  zinc  paint  from  the  cata- 
logue of  a  Boston  mercantile  concern. 
Catalogue  and  bill  of  lading  both  speci- 
fied 80  per  cent  reduced  white  zinc  in 
oil.  The  shipment  was  paid  for  and 
opened.  It  would  not  "paint,"  and 
seemed  to  be  adulterated  with  sawdust. 
Chemical  analysis  showed  less  than  30 
per  cent  zinc.  Buz-z-zz !  Boston  had 
pressed  the  button  when  it  got  the  order. 
Letters  from  the  purchaser  asking  for 
recompense  were  answered  only  by  "fol- 
low up"  from  the  Boston  concern  urg- 
ing him  to  buy  more  paint.  These  let- 
ters were  breezy,  optimistic  and  signed 
by  the  president  of  the  company.  The 
sales  force  of  the  organization  was  still 
working  splendidly. 

A  Peruvian  importer  had  a  little  bet- 
ter luck,  because  he  bought  100  dozen 
men's  felt  hats  from  a  New  York  export 
house  to  be  paid  for  on  arrival.  When 
the  United  States  trade  commissioner 
was  shown  a  sample  of  those  hats  he  hus- 
tled down  to  Callao  to  examine  the  whole 
lot.  They  were  moth-eaten,  dirty,  cut; 
a  choice  assortment  of  factory  rejects 
or  perhaps  second-hand,  and  20  per  cent 
of  them  missing.  Close  inspection  re- 
vealed a  British  hatmaker's  mark.  For- 
tunately, the  Peruvian  was  able  to  reject 
that  shipment. 

Last  winter  American  toy  manufac- 
turers undertook  a  campaign  for  world 
markets,  and  it  was  successful  up  to  the 
push-button  point.  A  small  shop  in  San- 
tiago, Chile,  with  a  circus  display  of 
articulated  animals  and  clowns  made  in 
"Filadelfia"  had  so  great  a  crowd  of  chil- 
dren and  grown-ups  around  it  all  day 
that  the  shopkeeper  was  compelled  to 
place  a  guard  over  his  plate  glass.  Down 
the  street  there  were  German,  Japanese 
and  British  toys,  but  none  with  an  audi- 
ence like  that.  Latin  America  is  a  fine 
toy  market,  because  it  has  two  Christ- 
mas days.  The  second  comes  on  Janu- 
ary 6,  the  "Day  of  the  Kings,"  when  the 
Wise  Men  visited  the  Infant  Saviour, 
bringing  their  gifts.  Latin-American 
youngsters  hang  up  their  stockings  again 
the  evening  of  January  5  and  the  Wise 
Men  fill  them.  Lima  is  called  "The  City 
of  the  Kings,"  because  it  was  founded 
around  that  anniversary. 

SUPERVISION  NEEDED 

RUT  despite  the  success  of  our  toys  on 
their  ingenuity  and  educational  mer- 
its, Latin-American  merchants  declare 
that  they  will  not  buy  them  another  year. 
The  Germans  are  back  with  toy  soldiers 
cunningly  adapted  to  each  country — some 
of  them  sold  last  winter  were  American 
soldiers  killing  Germans.  The  Japanese 
have  their  own  stores  in  the  southern 
countries,  selling  imitations  of  German 


PERU 


147 


trade  with,  we  must  disconnect  the  push 
buttons. 


BULL    FIGHTING.    PERU'S    NATIONAL    SPORT 


toys — tin  iiorns  that  will  not  blow,  rub- 
ber balls  that  do  not  bounce,  squeaking 
animals  that  won't  squawk.  But  shop- 
keepers prefer  the  German  and  Japanese 
toys,  and  the  British  wooden  blocks  and 
doll  houses,  because  American  mechani- 
cal toys,  though  more  attractive,  have 
mostly  arrived  broken  as  a  consequence 
of  bad  packing. 

There  are  many  American  concerns 
who  land  their  products  intact  in  other 
countries.  The  Lima  theatre  owner's  ex- 
perience has  been  that  the  bigger  the  con- 
cern the  more  satisfactory  its  shipments. 
When  he  dealt  with  a  "trust"  like  our 
largest  plumbing  supply  corporation  there 
was  little  breakage  or  none  at  all.  But 
untold  damage  has  been  done  to  our  busi- 
ness prestige  by  mushroom  exporting  con- 
cerns in  the  United  States  and  mushroom 
export  departments  set  up  in  the  war  rush 
by  manufacturers  and  wholesalers.  Such 
stories  as  have  been  told  in  this  article 
are  being  circulated  by  our  business  rivals 
in  other  countries.  One  type  of  Yankee1 
resents  them  as  "propaganda,"  but  for- 
tunately there  is  another  type  who  sees 
that  the  place  to  deal  with  them  is  at 
home,  by  weeding  out  the  incompetents 
and  the  crooks  for  the  protection  of  our 
customers  abroad   as  well  as  ourselves. 

One  plan  has  been  suggested  by  Carl- 
ton Jackson,  our  energetic  trade  commis- 
sioner at  Lima.  That  is  to  create  either 
a  "blacklist"  of  the  tricky,  careless  and 
irresponsible  concerns,  or  a  "white  list" 
of  those  who  fill  export  orders  faithfully, 
skillfully  and  promptly.  Perhaps  it 
might  be  compiled  by  our  government,  in 
which  case  it  would  have  official  status 
and  "teeth."  The  Germans  long  ago 
learned  that  such  supervision  was  neces- 


sary, the  British  have  virtually  an  official 
supervision  through  their  board  of  trade, 
and  the  Japanese  are  coming  to  it.  If  a 
government  list  is  not  feasible,  then 
action  might  be  undertaken  by  some  such 
organization  as  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  the  United  States. 

It  is  a  poor  industry  that  cannot  clean 
up  its  own  crooks.  The  time  has  come 
when  information  about  the  trustworthi- 
ness of  American  concerns  is  more  neces- 
sary than  credit  reports  on  the  other 
fellow  who  wants  to  buy  our  stuff.  If 
we  are  to  be  made  safe  for  the  world  to 


ARTICLE  LXXXVIII 

TRACTOR  DESTINED  TO 
INCREASE  PERU'S  WEALTH 

LIMA,  Peru,  Feb.  20.— "Singer"  was 
the  word  that  stood  for  America  all 
over  the  world  a  generation  ago,  lighten- 
ing labor  in  remote  lands  and  lowering 
the  cost  of  living. 

"Ford"  is  the  characteristic  word  to- 
day, with  the  American  car  everywhere 
shortening  distance  and  time.  Of  course, 
this  does  not  imply  that  Singer  sewing 
machines  have  passed,  for  their  distribu- 
tion in  world  markets  is  wider  today 
than  it  ever  was,  but  quieter  because  it 
has  come  to  be  a  matter  of  course. 

Peru  would  seem  to  be  almost  the  last 
place  in  the  world  for  automobiles,  be- 
cause it  has  few  roads  except  around  the 
cities,  and  tremendous  mountain  slopes 
and  rocky  fastnesses  to  make  road-build- 
ing difficult.  The  mule  and  the  pack- 
train  are  the  universal  means  of  travel, 
and  even  in  the  cities,  where  old-fash- 
ioned cobblestone  pavements  prevail,  the 
cumbersome  two-wheeled  cart  is  the 
chief  vehicle  for  hauling  goods,  and  the 
grocer,  milkman  and  other  merchants 
make  their  deliveries  on  horseback.  In- 
deed, there  was  better  communication 
in  the  days  of  the  Incas.  Inca  roads 
have  been  a  subject  of  dispute,  some  au- 
thorities picturing  them  as  great  wide 
stone-flagged  highways  comparable  with 
the  Roman  roads,  while  others  deny  that 
they  ever  existed  at  all.  American  min- 
ing engineers  familiar  with  the  moun- 
tains assure  one  that  there  were  really 
Inca  roads,  but  that  they  were  not  wide 


WHEN    THE    LAST    BULL    IS    DOWN.     LIMA    CARRIES    THE    SUCCESSFUL 
MATADOR   ON  HER   SHOULDERS 


148 


PERU 


or  paved,  because  required  only  for  foot 
and  llama  travel,  vehicles  being  un- 
known. 

MORE  THAN  AN  AGENT 

Y/LT  in  the  last  three  years  nearly  1000 
Fords  have  been  landed  in  Peru  by 
the  Lima  agent,  A.  C.  Shumway,  and  he 
is  now  preparing  to  import  them  in  lots 
of  several  hundred  at  a  time,  knocked 
down,  and  assemble  them  on  the  con- 
tinuous plan  followed  at  the  factory, 
which  will  undoubtedly  be  as  interesting 
as  a  circus  to  the  Peruvians. 


out  on  a  tour,  alternately  running  along 
the  beach  and  then  taking  to  the  railroad, 
Mr.  Shumway  made  a  trip  south  of 
Lima.  People  turned  out  to  see  him.  As 
he  came  to  a  bad  stretch  of  sand  he 
would  demonstrate  what  could  be  done 
in  improvement  of  a  road  by  strewing 
the  sand  with  cotton  stalks,  or  leaves, 
or  any  other  convenient  farm  waste. 
Folks  took  to  the  idea  immediately,  and 
in  a  few  weeks  that  stretch  of  sand  would 
be  passable  for  motors.  In  other  places 
where  sand  was  combined  with  a  steep 


two-wheeled  carts  were  kept  off — these 
vehicles  weigh  twice  as  much  as  the  loads 
they  carry,  having  wheels  six  and  eight 
feet  in  diameter.  Up  on  the  plateaus, 
too,  towns  can  often  be  connected  by 
fairly  level  roads,  and  because  the  cli- 
mate is  dry,  highways  are  more  lasting 
than  when  subject  to  washing. 

Traveling  about,  pointing  out  these 
possibilities,  Mr.  Shumway  has  not  only 
interested  the  Peruvians  in  tackling  prac- 
tical improvements,  but  made  such  a 
name  for  himself  that  recently  he  was 
appointed  a  Lima  alderman. 


•CIND    OF    COUNTRY   AND    TRAVEL,    THAT    PERU    WANTS    TO    DISPLACE    WITH   RAILROADS 


Mr.  Shumway  is  a  missionary  as  well 
as  an  automobile  man.  Traveling  over 
the  country  and  seeing  the  pressing  need 
for  development  on  every  hand,  he  has 
realized  that  Peril  needs  ideas,  first  of 
all,  and  enthusiasts  to  preach  them,  and 
so  he  has  become  an  enthusiast  himself. 

The  levelest  territory  in  Peru  is  along 
the  coast.  By  running  along  the  sea 
beach  you  can  sometimes  motor  from  one 
town  to  another,  but  seldom  to  three 
towns.  The  beach  disappears,  or  you 
are  blocked  by  sand  or  hills.     Starting 


grade,  the  Peruvian  landowners  who 
wanted  to  go  to  town  quickly  by  auto, 
instead  of  horse,  would  arrange  to  have 
a  yoke  of  oxen  handy  to  pull  a  car 
through. 

In  many  parts  of  Peru  roads  are  more 
easily  built  than  is  imagined.  Under  the 
sand,  very  often,  at  a  depth  of  a  foot  or 
two,  there  may  be  hard  material  that 
merely  needs  uncovering.  In  the  north 
there  is  crude  oil  which,  worked  up  with 
the  sand,  would  make  satisfactory  high- 
ways   provided    the    heavy,    destructive 


AWAKENING  OF  LIMA 

TT  IS  said,  somewhat  humorously,  that 
the  city  of  Lima  has  been  run  by  the 
same  officials  Pizarro  put  into  jobs  when 
he  founded  it.  Certainly  the  adminis- 
tration has  become  cumbersome,  and  the 
city  is  not  administered  as  it  should  be. 
With  an  income  of  $1,000,000  and  a 
population  of  40,000,  it  should  have 
many  public  improvements,  for  that  is  a 
fair  income  for  an  American  city  of  the 
sabe  size  and  labor  costs  are  lower  in 
Lima.    But  the  sewers  are  worn  out,  the 


PERU 


149 


MOTORTRUCK.   TROLLEY  CAR.   RAILROAD  AND    LIMOUSINE    OP    NEARLY 
ALL   PERU    IS    MULE-POWKK. 


water  pipes  clogged  and  pavements  primi- 
tive, the  streets  unsprinkled,  and  it  is 
said  that  municipal  bookkeeping  is  so 
bad  that  no  balance  had  been  struck  for 
several  years. 

When  President  Leguia  took  office  re- 
cently, the  Lima  city  government  came 
in  for  early  attention.  He  has  the  ap- 
pointment of  city  officials  and  is  a  busi- 
ness man  and  progressive.  He  believes 
that  with  a  business  administration  and 
economical  expenditure  Lima  can  be 
made  one  of  the  most  comfortable  cities 
in  South  America.  So  one  of  his  first 
steps  was  to  shake  up  the  "city  hall"  and 
appoint  business  men  and  engineers  as 
"notables."  Lima's  equivalent  to  the 
American  board  of  aldermen  is  its 
"Junta  de  Notables."  British  and 
Americans  as  well  as  Peruvians  were  se- 
lected for  the  new  administration,  as 
Peruvian  law  permits  that.  Mr.  Shum- 
way  was  one  of  those  selected  and  also 
made  inspector  of  public  works. 

Under  a  project  of  the  Leguia  govern- 
ment, now  before  Congress,  thirty-one 
Peruvian  cities  and  towns,  ranging  from 
Lima  down  to  places  of  2000,  are  to  be 
paved,  provided  with  water  works  and 
sewers  and  given  garbage  service,  the 
money  to  be  raised  by  bonds  and  a  10 
per  cent  increase  in  tariff  duties.  These 
improvements  would  not  only  better  the 
health  of  a  large  population,  but  encour- 
age road  building  and  the  use  of  motors 
for  travel  and  hauling.  Thus  all  the 
enthusiastic  work  of  the  automobile  man 
on  behalf  of  good  roads,  better  pave- 
ments and  other  improvements  is  really 
the  broadest  way  to  build  up  a  motor 
market. 

Another  form  of  missionary  work  has 
been  that  for  the  Fordson  farm  tractor, 
of  which  more  than  400  have  been  sold 
in  Peru  the  last  year. 


FIELD  FOR  TRACTORS 

D  ECORD  cotton  and  sugar  prices  have 
put  a  lot  of  money  into  Peruvian 
pockets  the  last  two  years.  The  coast 
lands  where  these  staples  are  raised  can 
be  plowed  with  tractors,  because  level, 
and  with  fairly  large  fields.  Farm  labor 
is  scarce,  and  a  tractor  can  do  as  much 
work  as  twelve  or  fourteen  men  with 
twice  that  many  oxen.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  fields  are  often  stony,  with 
irrigation  ditches  to  be  negotiated,  and 
the  Peruvian  Cholo,  or  Indian  farm  la- 
borer, has  a  reputation  for  stupidity, 
especially  in  matters  of  machinery. 

Along  with  the  first  shipment  of  trac- 
tors came  a  movie  film  showing  them  in 
operation.  The  best  theatre  in  Lima 
was  hired  and  a  show  put  on  with  music, 
three  days'  advertising  and  special  invi- 
tations to  landowners.  The  crowd  was 
large  and  much  interested.  Sales  were 
made,  among  other  customers  being  Pres- 


ident-elect Leguia,  of  Peru,  who  is  a 
big  sugar  planter.  With  each  machine 
delivered  went  an  instructor,  who  stayed 
on  the  job  one  or  two  weeks,  teaching 
Mr.  Cholo  to  drive  the  gasoline  farm 
horse.  Mr.  Cholo  demonstrated  that 
somebody  had  made  a  mistake  about  his 
intelligence,  for  he  took  to  the  tractor 
at  once  and  ran  it  carefully  and  intelli- 
gently, and  there  has  not  been  as  much 
difficulty  on  that  score  as  with  the  price 
of  gasoline,  which  is  three  times  Ameri- 
can prices. 

Light  showers  thirty  or  forty  years 
apart  is  the  coast  weather  in  Peru.  So 
all  crops  must  be  raised  under  irrigation. 
Here  is  where  ideas  come  in  handy,  too. 

In  the  days  of  the  Incas  much  more 
coast  land  was  irrigated,  because  Peru 
had  four  or  five  times  the  population  to 
food  and  clothe.  But  the  Spaniards  en- 
slaved the  Indians  after  their  conquest, 
diverted  them  to  mining,  many  of  the 
coast  lands  were  deserted  and  the  popu- 
lation decreased.  The  Inca  irrigation 
works  fell  into  decay,  and  in  many  places 
disappeared.  In  other  places  they  may 
still  be  seen,  far  up  the  mountain  sides, 
works  that  Mr.  Shumway  estimates 
must  have  taken  thousands  of  Indians 
many  years  to  build,  but  today  quite  dry. 

Recently  a  landowner,  with  holdings 
in  such  a  dry  district,  set  an  engineer  ex- 
ploring the  old  Inca  irrigation  system. 
Following  it  up,  and  clearing  it  out, 
water  was  brought  on  to  several  thousand 
acres  of  idle  land,  producing  sugar.  The 
design  and  construction  of  the  old  Inca 
system  would  have  been  creditable  to 
present-day  engineers.  There  is  said  to 
be  a  large  acreage  of  coast  lands  which 
can  be  brought  under  irrigation  by  indi- 
vidual repair  of  these  old  systems.  In 
other  sections  large  irrigation  schemes 
are  required  to  divert  river  water  to  great 
areas.  The  present  Peruvian  Govern- 
ment has  comprehensive  plans  for  such 


AT   THE    BEGINNING   OF  RAILROAD  WORK    FOR   THE    TRAFFIC    MAN 


150 


PERU 


LLAMAS,    THE    CHIEF    CARRYING    POWER    OP    PERU'S    MOUNTAIN    DISTRICT. 

TO     PENNSYLVANIA'S     STEEL 


SHOWN    HERE  BEARING  VANADIUM  ORE  ON  THE  WAY 
WORKS 


irrigation,  and  thus  the  country  promises 
to  be  a  fine  market  for  farm  tractors. 


ARTICLE  LXXXIX 

TEACHING  WITH  SELLING 
LATIN  AMERICA'S  NEED 

T  IMA,  Peru,  Feb.  22.— A  ten-cent  jit- 
ney was  speeding  for  the  ferry. 
Built  for  five  passengers,  it  carried  ten, 
with  baggage  tied  onto  the  footboards 
and  even  piled  on  the  hood.  Every  two 
minutes  the  driver  stopped  to  pump  up  a 
leaky  front  tire — it  was  not  punctured, 
but  simply  let  the  air  out  slowly,  and  he 
pumped  patiently  as  though  that  was  the 
normal  behavior  of  auto  tires- 
There  was  only  one  Yankee  passenger, 
the  rest  being  Latin  Americans.  He 
stepped  down  to  have  a  look. 
"Ye  gods!"  he  whistled. 
For  the  leaky  tire  was  half  an  inch 
too  large  for  the  wheel.  Its  head  would 
not  go  into  the  rim.  Only  by  pumping 
it  up  every  two  minutes  was  it  kept  on 
the  wheel  at  all.  They  were  running 
at  least  twenty-five  miles  an  hour  in  their 
hurry.  Had  it  collapsed,  there  would 
have  been  Latin  Americans  and  baggage 


strewn  all  over  the  beautiful  tropical 
landscape. 

But  they  reached  the  ferry  safely,  and 
later  the  Yankee  was  told  by  a  friend 
with  longer  experience  in  southern  coun- 
tries that  Latin  Americans  have  a  way 
of  just  tying  things  together  with  string 
or  sticking  them  together  with  stickum, 
and  wonderful  luck  in  having  them  hold. 
Maybe  there  is  a  particular  saint  in  the 
calendar  who  specializes  in  this  form  of 
protection. 

In  Latin  America  nothing  strikes  the 
Yankees  so  quickly  as  the  general  lack 
of  mechanical  sense.  There  is  an  old  en- 
gineering saying,  "When  you  sell  a  ma- 
chine to  a  Latin  American,  in  three 
months  one  of  two  things  has  happened — 
the  Latin  American  has  broken  the  ma- 
chine or  the  machine  has  killed  the  Latin 
American." 

NATIVES  APT  MECHANICS 

TF  ONE  of  our  machines  breaks  down, 
we  fix  it  or  send  for  the  repair  man. 
But  the  Latin  American  decorates  it  with 
a  sign,  "No  Funciona,"  and  goes  away 
and  leaves  it.  All  over  the  southern  con- 
tinent one  sees  this  sign.  "No  Funciona" 
is  a  far  better  alibi  than  "manana."     A 


further  touch  of  artlessness  is  added  when 
the  sign  of  a  broken-down  lift  reads 
"Malo,"  which  means  "bad." 

Even  when  machinery  runs,  it  is  usu- 
ally on  three  legs.  Automobiles  thump 
and  wheeze,  their  wheels  wobble,  and 
they  just  barely  get  over  moderate  hills, 
though  they  may  be  high-powered  Ameri- 
can cars  capable  of  eating  up  mountains. 
Typewriters  and  adding  machines  soon 
become  so  temperamental  that  they  can 
be  operated  only  by  the  person  who  has 
seen  all  their  idiosyncrasies  develop. 
From  railroad  locomotives  right  down  to 
push  buttons  and  locks  mechanical  ap- 
paratus goes  crazy  in  Latin  America,  and 
people  humor  it  patiently  in  the  belief 
that  it  is  incurable. 

Many  Americans  jump  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  people  of  the  southern 
continent  are  naturally  nonmechanical — 
that  it  is  useless  to  expect  them  to  under- 
stand machinery-  But  that  is  a  mistake. 
The  Latin  American  is  decidedly  clever 
at  the  handicrafts  he  follows,  doing 
superior  work  in  wood,  brick,  stone,  plas- 
ter, leather  and  other  materials.  He 
happens  to  be  nonmechanical  today 
largely  because  he  has  enjoyed  few  con- 
tacts  with    machine   civilization.        He 


PERU 


151 


PERUVIAN    BRIDGE    OF    TYPE    BUILT    BY    THE    INCAS 


makes  an  apt  pupil,  and  tomorrow,  with 
better  opportunities,  may  easily  set  us 
a  pace. 

In  selling  to  Latin  America  we  have 
in  this  matter  both  an  opportunity  and  a 
duty.  Too  often  we  have  sent  the  sales- 
man where  the  demonstrator  and  the 
service  man  were  really  needed. 

American  elevators  were  installed  in  a 
new  hotel  on  the  southern  continent. 
Then  the  building  stood  idle  five  years 
waiting  for  a  lessee.  When  it  was  finally 
opened  the  elevators  were  out  of  commis- 
sion half  the  time,  and  the  "No  Fun- 
ciona"  sign  became  almost  part  of  the 
equipment.  The  management  could  not 
see  why  machinery  should  deteriorate 
when  it  wasn't  being  used  at  all.  Those 
elevators  were  sold  through  a  big  im- 
porting house  which  is  the  only  repre- 
sentative of  the  American  manufacturers 
in  that  country,  and  representation  has 
never  extended  to  the  manufacturers'  me- 
chanical department.  Along  with  our 
elevators,  Latin  America  ought  to  have 
our  upkeep  and  mechanical  training,  of 
course,  and  it  also  needs  our  elevator  in- 
surance and  inspection,  something  that 
seems  to  be  entirely  unknown. 


U.  S.  SYSTEM  UNFINISHED 
^UTOMOBILE  tires  are  another  il- 
lustration. Practically  all  of  them 
have  come  from  the  United  States  since 
the  war.  Nothing  gives  better  value  for 
intelligent  upkeep  than  an  automobile 
tire.  But  not  one  tire  in  twenty  through- 
out Latin  America  is  given  the  simple 
upkeep  of  proper  inflation.  Forty  to 
fifty  pounds  pressure  is  common  on  big 
tires  that  need  eighty,  and  mileage  is 
burned  up  uselessly.  Our  tire  manu- 
facturers have  established  their  own  sales 
branches  in  many  places,  but  there  is  a 
job  of  education  as  well  as  selling  ahead 
of  them.  If  they  will  understand  that 
Latin  America  needs  teaching,  and  is 
also  teachable,  mileage  and  service  can 
undoubtedly  be  made  the  basis  for  hold- 
ing much  of  the  tire  business  that  we 
came  into  so  suddenly  when  European 
products  were  cut  off. 

Latin  America  is  not  only  teachable  in 
mechanical  matters,  but  has  a  new  de- 
termination to  learn.  Everywhere  one 
finds  the  desire  for  industries  and  the 
substitution  of  machinery  and  large-scale 
production  for  the  primitive  agriculture 
of  the  southern  countries.  Today  the 
lusty  peasant  and  Indian  whack  the  soil 


with  ponderous  hoes  and  cultivate  crops 
with  the  machete.  Tomorrow  they  will 
be  using  tractors  and  gang  plows.  Short- 
age of  labor  and  area  of  country  make 
modern  methods  necessary,  for  Latin- 
American  conditions  are  much  like  our 
own. 

Intent  mostly  on  selling,  and  often 
through  agents  who  are  chiefly  traders, 
our  farm  implement  manufacturers  have 
failed  to  study  agricultural  conditions  in 
the  different  countries  and  adapt  equip- 
ment to  their  special  requirements. 

In  Peru,  for  example,  cotton  is  not 
planted  each  season,  as  with  us,  but  left 
standing  in  the  fields,  bearing  for  six  or 
seven  years.  The  rows  are  widely  spaced ; 
1.3  meters,  or  more  than  four  feet.  The 
cotton  belt  now  under  cultivation  is  an 
irrigated  land.  It  needs  vigorous  culti- 
vation because  the  surface  hardens.  No 
cultivator  designed  to  work  two  rows  at 
once,  with  either  horse  or  tractor,  and 
high  enough  to  clear  the  plants,  has  yet 
been  placed  on  the  market.  American 
manufacturers  simply  offer  the  Peruvian 
planter  implements  designed  for  our  own 
farming  conditions.  Such  a  cultivator 
would  also  be  useful  for  sugar  cane,  an- 
other big  crop  in  Peru. 


152 


PERU 


Many  other  American  products  re- 
quire similar  adaptation  to  Latin-Ameri- 
can conditions  and  a  certain  amount  of 
"foolproofing-" 

We  build  apparatus  for  speed  and  out- 
put, operate  it  with  constant  upkeep,  and 
send  it  to  the  scrap  heap  when  something 
faster  or  cheaper  is  invented,  with  spare 
parts  and  repair  men  around  the  corner. 

POETRY    BEING     DISCARDED 

■pUROPE  has  had  a  different  philoso- 
phy— to  make  apparatus  extremely 
durable  and  run  it  until  it  wears  out, 
which  may  be  years  hence.     An  old  ma- 


many  Americans  abroad  often  prefer  it 
to  our  own. 

A  practical  method  of  teaching,  avail- 
able to  many  American  concerns  whose 
goods  have  secured  a  wide  distribution 
in  Latin  America  during  the  war,  is 
through  the  printed  word. 

It  is  interesting  to  inspect  our  mer- 
chandise and  apparatus  on  the  southern 
continent  and  see  what  literature  the 
manufacturers  have  sent  out  with  it  and 
what  they  have  to  say  for  themselves. 
Many  products  are  now  specially  packed, 
with  Spanish  or  Portuguese  labels,  circu- 


An  American  on  the  rainless  coast  of 
Peru  had  been  presented  with  a  cane 
umbrella  by  his  office  staff  before  depar- 
ture. He  carried  it  about  by  way  of  ap- 
preciation. One  day  in  the  Plaza  a 
Peruvian  respectfully  asked  what  this 
contrivance  was — the  Latin  American 
expects  ingenious  things  of  Yankees. 
When  shown  how  it  works,  and  lifting 
it,  the  fascinated  caballero  held  it  over 
his  head,  walking  up  and  down.  Then 
saying,  'Pardon,  Senor — a  momentito," 
he  disappeared,  to  return  a  few  minutes 
later  with  a  dozen  friends,  who  marveled 


THE    PERUVIAN    COAST   WHERE    SHOWERS   FALL    THIRTY    YEARS    APART.    BUT    FOGS    RIVAL    LONDON'S    WORST    WINTER    ONES 


chine,  like  an  old  employe,  will  be  re- 
tained in  a  British  or  European  plant 
and  valued  on  its  years  of  good  service. 
Now,  in  a  Latin-American  country, 
where  good  repair  men  are  not  plenti- 
ful and  spare  parts  are  from  six  weeks 
to  six  months  away,  the  sturdy  apparatus 
is  usually  best.  The  British  learned  this 
long  ago  and  built  exceptional  strength 
and  ruggedness  into  their  export  ap- 
paratus, where  we  specialize  in  ingenuity 
and  adaptability.  So  their  stuff  stands 
up    under   work,    and    even    abuse,    and 


lars,  directions,  supplementary  informa- 
tion about  other  articles.  Others,  send 
out  the  standard  pack  distributed  at 
home,  with  abundant  talk  about  the  qual- 
ity in — pure  American!  Some  manufac- 
turers have  visualized  the  possibilities 
to  the  extent  of  fitting  apparatus  with 
name  and  direction  plates  in  the  other 
fellow's  language,  but  all  through  the 
southern  countries  one  sees  directions  to 
"Pull,"  "Turn,"  "Oil  here"  and  the 
like,  and  on  British  apparatus  as  well  as 
our  own. 


at  the  novelty.  Finally  the  Peruvian 
offered  the  Yankee  $25  for  this  remark- 
able contrivance,  so  he  could  take  it  up 
into  the  country. 

When  things  refuse  to  function  in 
Latin  America  it  is  for  lack  of  mechani- 
cal knowledge  rather  than  any  lack  of 
intelligence  or  interest  in  mechanical 
things.  The  Latin-American  cousin, 
by  degrees,  is  dropping  poetry  to  take  up 
engineering  and  turning  from  Europe 
to  us  for  practical  things.  So  we  have 
a  job  of  teaching  as  well  as  selling. 


The  World9 s   Greatest  News  Service 


Is  in  the 


PHILADELPHIA 


PUBLIC 


LEDGER 


THE  PUBLIC  LEDGER  has  estab- 
lished a  news-gathering  organization 
that  exceeds  even  its  own  past  records — 
an  international  news-service  that  will  be 
ail-American  in  viewpoint,  personnel  and 
enterprise  —  and  one  controlled  exclu- 
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CJ  This  great  organization  is  now  com- 
pleted. 

•f  It  is  international  in  scope — equipped 
to  gather  all  news  of  interest  to  American 
readers  and  flash  it  to  Philadelphia  from 
every  civilized  country  in  the  world. 

^  Central  offices  in  Europe  are  at  London, 
Paris  and  Berlin.  Correspondents  report 
to  these  headquarters  from  all  other  im- 
portant centers. 

f§  Carl  W.  Ackerman,  in  London,  is 
Editor-in-Chief  of  the  European  division. 

C|  Wythe  Williams,  a  native  Pennsyl- 
vanian,  is  in  charge  of  the  Paris  Bureau. 


SEYMOUR  BEACH  CONGER,  for 
sixteen  years  foreign  correspondent  of 
the  Associated  Press  in  Russia,  London, 
Paris,  Scandinavia  and  Germany,  is  direc- 
tor of  the  Bureau  in  Berlin. 

1§  Sir  George  Paish,  for  many  years  editor 
of  "The  Statist,"  and  one  of  the  greatest 
financial  authorities  of  the  world,  cables 
a  weekly  review  of  the  world's  financial 
conditions. 

^  The  Far  East  is  covered  by  corre- 
spondents in  Pekin,  Vladivostok,  Shang- 
hai, Seoul,  Yokohama,  Manila,  Osaka, 
Harbin,  Hong  ICong  and  other  centers. 
Mr.  B.  W.  Fleisher,  publisher  of  the 
"Japan  Advertiser,"  in  Tokio,  and  a 
native  of  Philadelphia,  is  in  charge. 

^  This  great  organization,  covering 
Europe  and  Asia,  added  to  that  long  estab- 
lished to  cover  North  and  South  America, 
makes  the  PUBLIC  LEDGER  more 
than  ever 


The  Newspaper  With  the  World's 
Greatest  News  Service 


14  DAY  USE 

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